Skin & Bone

A couple of cops pull over a car and beat up its occupant, an army general. Turns out he's paying for their services. An episodic portrait of hustlers making ends meet by acting out sexual fantasies for the '12 Noon' male escort agency, this low-budget indie reveals just how demeaning it is to be an out-of-work actor in LA - or even an in-work actor, if you're reduced to crud like this. Are there no restaurant jobs anymore? The movie's pretensions (flash-frame editing, b/w and colour visuals) are particularly galling given the lame dialogue and hackneyed dramatics, not to mention a cast with across the board learning difficulties (the soundtrack is so appalling it merits special mention; it's not aided by Lewis's inexplicable propensity for staging scenes beside the LA freeway). Presumably this is getting a UK release on the strength of its (bi-sexual) prurience quota, which is really nothing to get excited about.