"Lost Angels" is spelled out in graffiti over the words "Los Angeles" as the film opens, and the title refers to rebellious young people from affluent families, but whose parents are too self-absorbed to care for them.

The wayward kids of "Lost Angels" wind up in a psychiatric hospital, a sort of private institution for rich kids who won't tow the line.

The focus is on Adam Horovitz (of the rap group Beastie Boys), whose mother tells him he's going to the institution for a brief checkup, but who actually has committed him. When he realizes what's going on Horovitz gets violent and is subdued. When he awakens he is manacled to a cot.

He's immediately befriended by psychiatrist Donald Sutherland, a caring physician who, we soon learn, has his own share of problems. He's so dedicated to his patients he tends to neglect his own children, an irony that is hammered home a bit too heavily.

However, when "Lost Angels" concentrates on the Horovitz-Sutherland relationship, it is searing drama with an edge. Horovitz is quite convincing as the basically good kid who has rebelled because his parents are such self-centered wackos, and Sutherland is brilliant as the pained psychiatrist who won't trade off his ethical oaths for insurance premiums.

It's when the film meanders off in other directions - which is far too often - that it loses its way. And the ending in particular rings false.

It's hard to believe this was directed by Hugh Hudson ("Chariots of Fire") and written by Michael Weller ("Ragtime," "Hair"). But, again, it has its moments. "Lost Angels" is rated R for violence, sex, nudity, profanity and drugs.