Some stars are made, not born; others are manufactured. Poor Liv Tyler, the slight screen presence around which Bernardo Bertolucci's elaborately awful new romance revolves, comes prepackaged as Hollywood's next superstar, and she's hard-pressed to justify the hype.
Here, she plays a coltish American virgin (yeah, right) searching for her long-lost father among jaded aesthetes who occupy a picturesque villa near Siena. A few grown-ups -- notably Donal McCann, Sinead Cusack and Jeremy Irons -- do their best to carry the movie through long stretches of
punishingly insipid dialogue and picture-postcard visuals, but STEALING BEAUTY is essentially Bertolucci's valentine...
Released:
1996
Rated:
R
Length:
119 mins