The Canyons

Director Paul Schrader (American Gigolo) and writer Bret Easton Ellis (American Psycho) join forces for this micro-budget ($250,000) morality piece. Lindsay Lohan will garner attention just by her presence, but, although the movie is flawed, she's pretty terrific as Tara, a weak, shallow but ultimately sympathetic Los Angeles woman who has hooked up with a spoilt, sadistic trust-fund brat named Christian (played by porn actor James Deen, whose bad acting somehow suits the character). When not going to the gym, visiting shrinks or eating in expensive restaurants, Tara and Christian dabble in group sex and film-making, with more enthusiasm for the former than the latter. Nevertheless, jealousy rears its head, and mild suspense is generated over whether Christian will work out Tara is still hung up on her ex-boyfriend, Ryan (Nolan Funk). But the plot is beside the point: Schrader and Ellis are more interested in capturing the moral lassitude of modern LA, where everyone is always texting or otherwise distracted with technology, and sex and love are meaninglessly interchangeable.