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By Dan Leone

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BYRON TILLER'S FIRST novel is published. He gets pretty good reviews and a decent paycheck, but when the money runs out and publishers swiftly reject his second manuscript, Tiller (played by Andy Garcia) loses any sense of the pride and hope he once had, morphing into a slouched-over, lobotomized shell of a man, because he can barely afford to care for his wife and baby, let alone get his new book on the shelves. But instead of sealing a Hemingway-esque fate for himself, Tiller reluctantly signs on as a male escort at a place called Elysian Fields after the company's foppish owner, Luther Fox (Mick Jagger, trying his best to act natural on-screen), seduces him into the biz. So Tiller finds himself lying to his long-suffering wife (Julianna Margulies) about his late nights as he gets involved with Andrea Alcott (Olivia Williams), a young, beautiful client who happens to be married to a Pulitzer Prize-winning author (James Coburn) who's at death's door. As Tiller's strange relationship with the Alcotts deepens, his marriage disintegrates (although it takes a while for the good wife to catch on), and Elysian Fields proves to be more like Purgatory than Paradise. The premise – neatly summed up by a fellow escort (played by Michael Des Barres) when he admits that "sometimes fucking is the last resort for a man who feels impotent" – has no trouble luring you in, but it feels like director George Hickenlooper didn't have the chutzpah to take what could have been a dark, stylish, cryptic tale of desperation over the edge. (Dina Gachman)