`Laurel Canyon' is an intriguing character-driven drama, written and directed by Lisa Cholodenko and featuring first-rate performances by Frances McDormand, Christian Bale, Kate Beckinsale, Alessandro Nivola and Natascha McElhone.

Sam (Bale) and Alex (Beckinsale) are recent Harvard med school grads who move to Southern California to begin a new phase in their lives, he as a resident in a psychiatric ward and she as a genetics researcher working on her PhD. While there, the young couple moves in with Sam's mother, Jane (McDormand), an aging, hard-living but highly successful music producer who owns a gorgeous residence (in Hollywood's posh Laurel Canyon) that also doubles as a recording studio. Sam, an earnest, rigid, almost prudish young man, has long rejected the free-wheeling lifestyle of his mother whom he considers more of an embarrassment than anything else. The brainy Alex, on the other hand, who graduated first in their highly competitive class, has led a more `sheltered' existence and she finds herself strangely drawn to the hedonistic atmosphere she finds here. Another factor pulling the couple apart is the growing relationship between Sam and Sara (McElhone), the beautiful young resident who works with him at the hospital. The fifth element in the mix is Ian (Nivola), a smooth-talking, cocky young singer who, though officially attached to the much-older Jane, plays a primary role in getting Alex to loosen up, shed her inhibitions, and come join their little `party.'

`Laurel Canyon' plays out like a `civilized' power struggle, with the various characters jockeying for position, staking out their territory, and attempting to pull certain key individuals into their own respective corners. Alex, with her air of naïve innocence, is clearly the main `prize' here, but Sam also feels a noticeable tug from Sara, who senses in her co-worker a kindred spirit she would like to get to know better. These are people playing with fire – Jane and Ian in particular – and one of the messages of `Laurel Canyon' seems to be that a life conducted without a clear moral code will end up in disaster for all concerned. However, Cholodenko does not seem exactly enamored of Sam's provincialism either, seeing it as a wall he has constructed in order to hide from the truth of his own nature.

McDormand makes an indelible impression as the intriguing but somewhat pathetic Jane, a woman who's failed as a mother primarily because she's never been able to grow up and accept adult responsibility. The few encounters we are privy to between mother and son are searing in their intensity, but `Laurel Canyon' keeps its confrontation scenes to a minimum, choosing instead to find its meaning in the things that are NOT said rather than in the things that are. That's a risky strategy that generally pays off, though some in the audience may find the subtlety and lack of a clear-cut resolution unsatisfying and even frustrating in the long run. The plotting is sometimes a bit too clear-cut and neat for its own good and the parallelism (i.e. the simultaneous drifting apart of Sam and Alex due to their respective `temptations') sometimes feels forced and obvious. The parallelism is less obtrusive in the case of Sam's patient, a 16-year old boy whose drug addiction is placed in stark opposition to the `casual, recreational' drug use of Jane and her music-making cohorts. Moreover, having Sam and Alex be a married couple rather than just boyfriend and girlfriend might have intensified some of the moral complexities and dilemmas faced by the characters. Still, the caliber of both the acting and the writing keeps us involved for the duration of the film.

`Laurel Canyon' spins a unique tale in a relatively unfamiliar setting and provides five fine actors an opportunity to really display the perfection of their craft.