SLOW BURN — * — Ray Liotta, James Todd Smith; rated R (sex, nudity, violence, profanity); Carmike Ritz; Century Sandy and South Salt Lake; Cinemark Jordan Landing; Megaplex 20.

One has to assume the only reason Christopher McQuarrie, who wrote the classic crime-thriller puzzle "The Usual Suspects," hasn't sued Wayne Beach, the writer and director of "Slow Burn," is that he doesn't want to waste his time. Since "Slow Burn" is little more than an ill-conceived appropriation of "Suspects," moviegoers probably won't want to waste their time, either.

Here, the Chazz Palminteri role is taken by Ray Liotta playing district attorney and mayoral candidate Ford Cole, summoned to the police station by his assistant, Nora Timmer (Jolene Blalock), who claims the dead guy in her apartment raped her.

Control freak Cole would obviously like to sort all this out before the Vanity Fair reporter (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who's been tailing him for a feature figures out what's going on.

Unfortunately, in strolls Luther Pinks (LL Cool J, working under his birth name of James Todd Smith, maybe hoping no one will recognize him), a friend of the dead Isaac Duperde (Mekhi Phifer) and a former Detroit cop who says he has info that ties the sexy Nora and the killing to the local gang boss. (Locale is supposed to be Big City USA, but is obviously Montreal.)

At issue, though, is not just Luther's admission that he has a "short in his brain" that causes him to remember things in terms of abstract smells, like grapefruit and pot roast, but the fact that the powerful gang lord, Danny Luden, has never been identified. He is a "ghost" who enjoys taunting Cole with his elusiveness.

Now comes the interrogation and the "Rashomon"-style flashbacks, which introduce us to other players, including Luden-connected Chet Price (Guy Torry) and Jeffrey Sykes (Taye Diggs); some sinister white guys in bow ties; and some chameleons, who serve as a less than subtle metaphor for the theme that people here change colors — figuratively and literally.

The question of racial identity is about all that keeps "Slow Burn" from being a carbon copy of "Suspects," most mouth-gapingly obvious in its ending. If you have not figured out the identity of Luden by the finale, it will only be because you do not care.

"Slow Burn" is rated R for sex, nudity, violence and language. Running time: 93 minutes.