Jayne Mansfield's Car - C-

Rated R, 121 minutes

Wildly erratic, odd "Jayne Mansfield's Car" channels Tennessee Williams

Robert Duvall and John Hurt

"Jayne Mansfield's Car" has little to do with Jayne Mansfield or her car, but mostly about messy familial relationships. Directed and co-written by Oscar-winner Billy Bob Thornton, it's intriguing on the surface but a weird mess in its execution. It's 1969 in a small Alabama town and four very different siblings (Thornton, Robert Patrick, Kevin Bacon and Katherine LaNasa) and their cranky father (Robert Duvall) must deal with the death of their long-estranged mother and wife, not to mention her other family (John Hurt, Frances O'Connor and Ray Stevenson), who comes into town for her funeral. Oddly charming, overlong and inconsistent, "Jayne Mansfield's Car" is barely watchable due to an eclectic cast that creates some unpredictable, bizarre moments. Where else will you find Oscar-winners Thornton and Duvall, acclaimed actor Hurt mix it up with comedian Ron White of "Blue Collar Comedy Tour" fame. The blustery White, in a small role as an in-law, seems to be having the most fun in a film that clearly is channeling Tennessee Williams, but instead of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" this is "Dead Dog on a Porch." Honestly, Thornton and particularly Bacon are miscast, Duvall is playing another cranky old guy that's made him famous while Hurt seems uncomfortable. The most memorable of the large cast is character actress Katherine LaNasa ("The Campaign"), whose character is by far the most honest in a family of unsympathetic, underdeveloped characters. You'd think that Arkansas native Thorton would have a good grasp on the Southern familial experience, but it all falls surprisingly flat under the slow-moving, odd narrative. "Jayne Mansfield's Car" is an unfortunate disappointment.

Wes's Grade: C-