Wanderers

UNDER THE SILVER LAKE (A-minus) - At last, a use for Andrew Garfield -- slacker stoner around which a crazy colorful story revolves. David Robert Mitchell wowed with "The Myth of the American Sleepover," but irritated with "It Follows." His third film finds the pocket again with Garfield as Sam, a millennial version of the classic case of an L.A. gumshoe solving a mystery. (This one is more "Inherent Vice" than "The Long Goodbye.") Call it neo-noir, or maybe neon noir in this case.

Swirling around Sam are beautiful young women, many trying to catch their break in Hollywood. Mitchell is making a statement about the dehumanizing effects of the starlet factory, but he's not above employing a lurid male gaze to make his points about the evils of that male gaze. Some might be turned off by the mild fetishism -- one woman (Grace Van Patten) usually sports balloons on her person, while one of Sam's friends with benefits (Riki Lindhome, identified in the credits simply as Actress), is often on her way to an audition or role, thus dressed up as a farm girl or a nurse. (Other women are identified merely as Emerald Beauty, Yellow Miniskirt, Blue Miniskirt, ad nauseam.) An older neighbor (Wendy Vanden Heuvel) likes to be topless on her balcony while tending to her exotic birds. India Menuez (from Amazon's "I Love Dick") sizzles as that undefinable hybrid, the actress/sex worker.

The star here, though her role is limited, is Riley Keough ("Lovesong") as Sarah, a platinum blonde circled by a profound sadness who disappears, thus piquing Sam's curiosity. Sam also is into numerology and other forms of meaningful serendipity. His path goes through a creepy conspiracy theorist (Patrick Fischler) whose graphic novels about a dog killer help Sam solve this mystery.

Millennials drive this magic bus; when Balloon Girl leads Sam down to a subterranean club to hear some "old people music," we get third-wave R.E.M. ("What's the Frequency, Kenneth," of course) and Cornershop. Ouch. But the parade of engaging, appealing characters zips this along so that you don't mind going a quarter hour past the two-hour mark to find out what exists underneath the sleaze of Hollywood. Garfield can be quite the cipher as an actor, and here that lack of charisma hits just the right note.

THE LAND OF STEADY HABITS (C-minus) - A misfire from Nicole Holofcener ("Enough Said," "Walking and Talking"), who strays from her formula by adapting source material rather than penning an original screenplay, and placing a man at the center of her production for the first time. The result is a snooty suburban mopefest starring the usually reliable Ben Mendelsohn surrounded by underutilized actresses like Edie Falco and Connie Britton.

Ted Thompson's novel was probably a good read; Holofcener's movie has a straight-to-video cheapness to it. Mendelsohn plays Anders, recently divorced as well as retired from the investment rat race, and grasping to create a normal bachelor life. His own adult son is drifting at age 27 after a stint in rehab, and Anders develops a connection with the son of some friends, a high school kid also headed to rehab.

Anders seems to bed women at will, only to disappoint them with his performance and generally mean disposition. Mendelsohn mostly mumbles his way through this. Britton, as a potential random love interest, offers a glimpse of what could have been an interesting Holofcener film if offered from the female perspective. The death of a character packs no emotional punch. Instead, a dull rendering limps to a bland finish.

BONUS TRACK
"Silver Lake" digs up the Association's "Never My Love" for an opening sequence featuring oblivious millennials: