FACTORY GIRL — ** — Sienna Miller, Guy Pearce, Hayden Christensen; rated R (sex, nudity, vulgarity, drugs, profanity, violence.

Say what you will about Andy Warhol's movies — they may have been boring, but at least they weren't as dull as as "Factory Girl," a biographical drama about one of Warhol's proteges, Edie Sedgwick.

As superficial and inconsequential as "Factory Girl" is, it almost feels as if we're watching "The Paris Hilton Story" instead of a movie about the tragic Sedgwick, who deserved better than she receives here. (Brief interview snippets during the end credits feature Sedgwick biographer George Plimpton and others who make her sound more interesting than this movie does.)

Sienna Miller plays Sedgwick, who dropped out of art school and headed to New York to meet people like Warhol — who set the art world on fire with his pop-art silkscreens and deliberately amateurish films.

This fictionalized account shows how Sedgwick became fast friends with Warhol (Guy Pearce), and theorizes that he capitalized on her brief stardom and quickly turned on her once he found a new "muse."

It also examines Sedgwick's brief fling with Bob Dylan, here called Bill Quinn, a fictional folk singer played by Hayden Christensen. "Star Wars" star Christensen can't decide whether he wants to mimic Dylan (who wisely refused to have anything to do with the film). Either way, he's stunningly awful here.

At least Pearce looks and sounds like Warhol, even if his performance feels more more like aping than acting.

The best thing the film has going for it is Miller, who finally shows some acting chops. She does everything she can to flesh out the screen version of Sedgwick, though director George Hickenlooper and a pair of screenwriters don't give her much to work with.

"Factory Girl" is rated R for simulated sex and other sexual contact, female nudity and nude artwork, strong sexual language (crude slang, innuendo and profanity), drug content (use of amphetamines and heroin, including hypodermic needle use) and brief violence (footage of rioting, as well as sexual violence). Running time: 90 minutes.

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