Splendor (1999)

REVIEW
Queer Indy bad boy filmmaker Gregg Araki moves closer to the mainstream with this charming, funny and at times captivating comedy which tries to be a light-hearted amalgamation of Jules and Jim, The Graduate and The Philadelphia Story. Veronica (Robertson, of "Beverly Hills 90210") is a striking 22-year-old blonde actress who falls in love with two different men on the same evening: the peced-out but slow-witted pretty boy drummer Zed (Keeslar) and the darkly handsome intellectual slacker Abel (Schaech). Unable to choose between the two of them, she chooses both. The menage a trois is soon domesticated as the three begin to live together and sleep together in bliss until an unexpected pregnancy and a wealthy and attentive filmmaker (Mabius) comes into the picture. The pace is uneven -- sometimes fast and furious with a beating soundtrack, and other times, slow and talky -- but the attractive characters and Araki's sense of sexual humor keep the story from bogging down, though the ending is unsatisfactory, familiar and pat. Warning to those fans of Araki's edgier works -- this is Araki-lite.