Bret Easton Ellis brings smut to Sundance

With Sundance on the horizon, the film world is letting up a little of its awards coverage and turning its attention to Park City. Celebrating a quarter century, the one-time festival where careers could be made is now a celebrity-filled ski retreat honoring some great films and a lot of dreck.

So when the New York Times turned its attention to the adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' short story collection The Informers, I grew especially hesitant about the festival this year. American Psycho certainly had its cinematic merits, and The Rules of Attraction was enjoyable if you're into morally reprehensible collegiate smut (I never saw Less Than Zero--but I do know it foreshadowed Robert Downey, Jr. in the 1990s and especially the first half of this decade). From Michael Cieply's story:

Mr. Ellis, for his part, said he was glad to be headed toward Sundance with some on-screen sex, drugs and anomie — if only to break the festival’s current mold.

“When people tell you something’s ‘a real Sundance movie,’ that’s more negative than a compliment,” he said.

Though there might be some legitimacy to Ellis' quote, I can't help but wonder if his latest--even one with a "reborn" Mickey Rourke"--will amount to anything more than sex-ed up, drug-laced  pulp vignettes.