The Assassination of Richard Nixon

Herald rating: * *

A portrait of a feeble loser, this film is about as effective as the central character's plan as described in the title.

History records that the 37th president died of natural causes in 1994, which rather robs the film of any element of surprise. Nonetheless, it doggedly tracks the abortive plan by Samuel Bicke (Penn) to hijack a plane and fly it into the White House.

His real name, Byck, was reportedly changed to avoid offending his relatives, although how they might feel protected by a name spelled differently and pronounced the same is anyone's guess. Anyway, Bicke is closer to Bickle, the surname of Robert De Niro's title character in Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver, which serves only to underline what a doomed idea this was.

A string of producer credits - Alexander Payne and Alfonso Cuaron, the directors of Sideways and Y Tu Mama Tambien respectively, and Leonardo di Caprio are among 16 mentioned - hint at the project's chequered history.

Director Mueller, who wrote the excellent Tadpole, presides over some fine performances, though Penn, as the simple-minded anti-hero, is out-acted by Aussie legend Jack Thompson, a corpulent office-furniture mogul who is Bicke's employer.

It's just that as we watch Bicke's descent into a grubby and rather undramatic madness - as he sends off explanatory audio tapes to his idol Leonard Bernstein, assembles a petrol bomb that is rather redundant in a kamikaze operation involving a 747 - we can't help wondering how the film, unlike that plane, ever got off the ground. Strange and pointless.

CAST: Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Don Cheadle, Jack Thompson
DIRECTOR: Niels Mueller
RUNNING TIME: 96 minutes
RATING: M, violence and offensive language