It says much about the failed dramatic strivings of The Air I Breathe that at a press screening -- an occasion for the most part free of audible displays of emotion, since critics like to play their cards close to the vest -- Jieho Lee's feature debut (co-scripted by Bob DeRosa) met with hoots of laughter the likes of which I've never before heard in that notoriously solemn setting. Based, according to the press release, on a Chinese proverb representing "four emotional cornerstones of life" -- Happiness, Pleasure, Sorrow, and Love, each dedicated its own vignette though the stories, of course, overlap -- the movie stars numerous B-list celebrities including, amongst others, Sarah Michelle Gellar as a smug, spoiled pop starlet, Brendan Fraser as a hitman who can see the future, Andy Garcia as a crime boss named "Fingers" . . . Did I mention this is a drama?

Click here to read Kristi Mitsuda's review of The Air I Breathe.