This movie revolves around the struggles of Julian Kayle, a Los Angeles male escort, who struggles against being accused of murdering an ex client, the thing that challenges him, as he has to clear his name.
The story becomes increasingly implausible as its thriller elements kick in, but the moving last shot achieves a sense of spiritual transcendence and grace rare in American movies.
Stylish but emotionally hollow, Paul Schrader's morality tale of a callboy (played by Richard Gere), offers some visual pleasures, including Armani's slick wardrobe.
Schrader's development of the frame-up story is mechanically melodramatic, and Gere, essentially a boring actor, doesn't help much either. He just cannot carry a picture, even when his passivity and gentleness well serve some aspects of his character...
