Steven Soderbergh whose origins as a filmmaker derive from making rather influential independent films like "Sex, Lies, and Videotape," decided after filming such big budget fare like "Ocean's Eleven" and "Traffic" to go back to his roots with the tepid and pretentious "Full Frontal" which attempts to pass itself off as a clever intelligent mock documentary yet manages to ultimately become a grainy sloppy super-glossy film stuck in self-indulgence on part of Soderbergh whose efforts at turning Indie once more are simply irritating. We venture through the lives of important Hollywood personalities played by various actors and actresses who play characters within characters in a film within a film that makes no real sense and serves no real importance to the film genre.

They were rules that was so desperate to achieve a sensibility of a man desperate to dig up funds for a film he wanted to make which occurred to me that it might have offended honest to goodness independent directors who really couldn't dig up money for their films nor could they boast the talents from many actors as Soderbergh does. Soderbergh comes off as a poseur who wants so hard to get a good set of actors for an under-budgeted film; but there's a difference: there have been many other indie films with low budgets and grade B casts that manage to achieve a sense of professionalism and promise within the texture of the work, but "Full Frontal" is the work of a man who's attempting to pass himself off as a hardworking independent director again when really he's the grade A director posing as one. Not that I'm completely insulting Soderbergh; he has immense talents and much of his films have gained critical acclaim and awards, but for goodness sake, don't try so hard and stick to what stage of filmmaking you are.

Amidst the muck, there are some truly annoying seemingly unnecessary scenes between the talented Blair Underwood as a movie star being interviewed by Soderbergh favorite Julia Roberts. We watch the two engage in flirtatious and often goofy flirting scenes. They're oddly drawn to each other but we never know why, she writes a note (or did she?) to him and he eats it up with a spoon to feed his insatiable ego. My first impulse while watching these films were to grab Soderbergh out of frustration and shake him repeatedly until his head screwed off. The film does present some interesting scenes from the obviously talented cast but by the closer of the film after all is said and done and we've delved into the lives of these Hollywood people we're left with a lingering question: Who cares?

This is a trite, pretentious, self-indulgent and ridiculous attempt from director Steven Soderbergh who brings everyone down with him through his shoddy directing, including the talented cast who are wasted beyond definition.

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