**/****
starring Antonio Banderas, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Peter Coyote, Gregg Henry
written and directed by Brian De Palma
by Bill Chambers Given the genre affiliation of its title and that it opens with a clip from Double Indemnity, Brian De Palma's Femme Fatale is unapologetically a film noir–which is not to say the picture has nothing to apologize for. Oh, for a pair of Armond White's De Palma goggles to beautify Femme Fatale, a flat, trés familiar, idly tongue-in-cheek caper starring Rebecca Romijn-Stamos in a role she's not dangerous enough to play, that of a bisexual American thief who switches places with her suicidal identical twin, a French woman of no blood relation. Tempted though I am to blow the plot beyond that vaguest of summaries, it'd be kind of grinchy to do so: although the twists and turns are not substantially rewarding, the element of surprise might be the only thing Femme Fatale has going for it. De Palma has served up a frozen dinner with portions of his Mission: Impossible, Obsession, Body Double, and Blow Out. Reheating isn't cooking, alas. PROGRAM: GALAS
