Wild Wild West

Following on from the colossal success of Independence Day and Men In Black, Will Smith has fallen flat on his face with his latest summer blockbuster.

Barry Sonnenfeld's crass but sporadically funny remake of the not-so-classic '60s TV show Wild Wild West is a near-disastrous but curiously entertaining mess, with Smith turning in his usual nod-and-wink performance as the Civil War-era highway-patroller Jim West. The result is something of a spoof Western/slapstick, none too serious in tone and completely bereft of a plot, which has its appealing moments but does nothing to suggest it will be remembered by anyone five years down the line.

Smith is only ever comfortable working within the 'buddy-movie' format, and needs a constant supply of repartee-like two-way dialogue that mixes equal parts wit and stupidity. He is provided with both here: Kevin Kline stars as his partner in crime, inventor-cum-master-of-disguise Artemus Gordon, as the two of them caper their way across the Western badlands on some vaguely-explained mission to outwit sneering evildoer Dr. Larden (Kenneth Branagh).

The direction is downright chaotic - Sonnenfeld deserves our appreciation for his earlier career as the Coens' cinematographer on Blood Simple and Raising Arizona, but he hasn't a breeze about characterisation and narrative focus, and tends to over-compensate by banging in as many flashy effects as possible.

This results in total overkill, and I had a headache by the time the thing ended. Smith and Sonnenfeld, doubtless, will bounce back undeterred next summer or the one after with some phenomenal box-office winner, but this time out, they've temporarily lost the plot. Give this a miss.