MOVIE REVIEW : ‘Delusion’ Races Past Plot Holes With Style, Humor

A young businessman is driving down a desert highway when a car appears from nowhere, weaving dangerously, then swerving out of control. A young woman climbs out of the overturned vehicle and helps a man extricate himself.

Wouldn’t you give the disheveled couple a ride? Of course, the businessman soon regrets his gesture, as is always the case in B movies, which is exactly what debut writer-director Carl Colpaert’s amusing and stylish “Delusion” (at the Westside Pavilion) most assuredly is. There are holes in the plot and improbabilities that don’t stand close scrutiny, but Colpaert whizzes by them with good humor and a sly view of human nature. Very quickly the couple’s gratitude gives way to unsettling behavior. The man, Chevy (Kyle Secor), comes on like a control freak doing a Mickey Rourke impression. The girl, Patti (Jennifer Rubin), is a kook with the attention span of a gnat. She says she’s a dancer on her way to Vegas and that Chevy is her manager (he is also her lover). The businessman, George (Jim Metzler), has good reason of his own to be rid of them as soon as possible, but they become hard to shake.

“Delusion” is gleamingly photographed by Geza Sinkovics and bolstered by Barry Adamson’s spare but charged score. Especially notable is the sultry, self-possessed Rubin, who keeps showing us new facets to the restless Patti. Patti’s instincts waver between kindness and a ruthless self-interest; she’s not all that smart (nor is Chevy, for that matter), but at times she’s capable of shrewdness. When George asks her what side she’s on, she matter-of-factly replies, “I’m on my own side.”

In more serious circumstances, Secor’s performance as Chevy would seem over the top, but his flamboyance here is just right to fuel a melodramatic genre plot that to a certain extent is being parodied anyway. Along the way there’s a stopover at a lakeside trailer, where Jerry Orbach has a standout turn as a veteran penny-ante bad guy.

The clever way in which Colpaert and his co-writer Kurt Voss bring “Delusion” (rated R for language, some sex) to its conclusion allows the film to wryly comment on the capacity of two seemingly very different men to give way to a macho posturing that reveals that money is more important to them than any person.

‘Delusion’

Jim Metzler: George O’Brien

Jennifer Rubin: Patti

Kyle Secor: Chevy

Jerry Orbach: Larry

A Cineville and Seth M. Willenson Productions presentation. Director Carl Colpaert. Producer Daniel Hassid. Executive producers Willenson, Christoph Henkel. Screenplay Colpaert, Kurt Voss. Cinematographer Geza Sinkovics. Editor Mark Allan Kaplan. Costumes Kimberly Tillman. Music Barry Adamson. Production design Ildiko Toth. Sound Al Samuels. Running time: 1 hour, 54 minutes.

MPAA-rated R (for language and sensuality).