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Sometimes surprising, often baffling and occasionally entertaining, Masked and Anonymous is another in the long but not necessarily distinguished line of rock-star movie vehicles. Bob Dylan stars in this BBC Films coproduction as an alter ego of himself, ageing rocker Jack Fate, released from jail to play a benefit concert in an alternative America that is run down and ruled by a military dictator. When not singing he makes little impression, so it's fortunate that director Larry Charles surrounds him with a galaxy of excellent supporting players, including John Goodman, Jessica Lange, Penelope Cruz, Jeff Bridges, Mickey Rourke, Bruce Dern, Luke Wilson, Giovanni Ribisi and Val Kilmer--all of whom gave their services for free.

The screenplay, cowritten by Dylan, is full of the kind of cryptic aphorisms familiar from his song lyrics: "What's bugging me?", remarks Jeff Bridges' character, "The absurdity of a lifetime of human labour, that's what's bugging me." "They have no ideology. They push both Jesus and Judas aside," says an anonymous bus driver, and there are plenty more didactic, speechy comments that even these veteran actors can't make sound natural or spontaneous. Better to focus on the music--both the songs Dylan performs on screen and those on the soundtrack, which consists mostly of foreign-language covers of Dylan classics.

On the DVD: Masked and Anonymous on disc comes with a commentary track from director Larry Charles, who is good on the details of the shooting schedule, but vague about the movie's aspirations. There are some deleted scenes (none of which shed any more light on the plot), another Dylan performance, and a 20-minute "making of" featurette, with the many supporting stars waxing lyrical about the freewheeling shooting style and semi-theatrical staging. The anamorphic widescreen picture is unexceptional, as is the Dolby 5.1 soundtrack, which naturally enough works best with the music. --Mark Walker

Release Date: May 10, 2004
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