Who is Cletis Tout?

"Who Is Cletis Tout?" is a film that's just asking for it from critics.

The movie attempts to mine laughs from a genre — the gangster/crime comedy — that wore out its welcome with audiences several years ago, and its cutesy reliance on movie-specific cliches isn't exactly endearing. (If anything, the clips from and homages to classic films only serve to remind us how good those films were and how lame this film is.)

Add to that an odd accusatory tone (several lines seem to be directed at movie critics), and you've got the formula for an independent-movie disaster. (To be honest, it's hard to resist the temptation to answer the title's question with a hardy "Who cares?")

You might not guess it from the title, but the main character is actually Trevor Finch (Christian Slater), a petty criminal who escapes from prison, thanks to some help from crafty fellow inmate Micah (Richard Dreyfuss). However, if the two of them are going to avoid returning to the clink, they'll need new identities. Unfortunately for Finch, the new identity he assumes is Cletis Tout, a deceased mobster.

So Finch suddenly finds himself the target of Tout's former bosses, who hire Critical Jim (Tim Allen), a movie-obsessed hit man, to finish the job. But when his partner dies, Finch must team up with Micah's daughter (Portia de Rossi) to find where the veteran crook hid the loot from his biggest heist.

To be fair, the film is pretty stylish. But in addition to its arch, unfunny humor, most of the action is conveyed by an extensive series of flashbacks, one of the worst cinematic cliches for a first-time filmmaker (Chris Ver Wiel) to fall back on.

Of course, it's not like his cast really gives him anything to work with. Slater seems bored, while Allen appears to be acting in a completely different movie than everyone else (his campy line delivery may be the film's worst element).

"Who Is Cletis Tout?" is rated R for occasional use of strong sex-related profanity, violence (gunplay and explosive mayhem), use of some crude sexual slang terms, simulated sex, brief female nudity (a dead body) and brief gore. Running time: 93 minutes.

E-MAIL: jeff@desnews.com