Flesh and Bone

When Arlis Sweeney (Quaid) was a kid, he saw his dad Roy (Caan) kill an entire farmstead family, except the screaming baby. Thirty years on, Arlis is content to drift around Texas fixing candy and condom machines; at least until he meets Kay Davies (Ryan), a volatile young woman keen to escape an unhappy marriage. Their hesitant relationship blooms - then, one night, the past catches up with Arlis in the shape of his father, for whom blood ties override all other considerations. Writer/director Kloves seems preoccupied with character and milieu. The performances are sound, but for much of the time the film seems undecided whether it's a mystery, a romance, a social document or an art movie. And that indecision is fatal, stifling the life out of what might have been an effective little thriller.