Paul Verhoeven's Tricked

It’s kind of a blast, with fully enough plot to fill a two-hour feature crammed efficiently into less than half that time in a manner that demands nothing from you except that you enjoy the ride.

One could say I’m more appreciative of its narrative economy than economic narrative, yet the numerous betrayals, bevy of sleazy characters, corporate intrigue, and sexual cat-and-mouse games — all things that could strike one as appreciably light if taken merely as genre tenets played in a soft key — are underwhelming in light of the fact that Verhoeven made all of these iconic decades ago.

Gimmicks aside, this decently acted and paced effort shows that the 74-year-old auteur can still be marginally transgressive, if not entirely original.

The fundamental problem is that Tricked is more mildly amusing than funny, and most of said amusement comes from the pacing, which is one uninterrupted sprint.

As ever, the paradox of Mr. Verhoeven’s style is that it seems to wallow in tastelessness and transgression even as he remains one of the most classical movie craftsmen.

Nothing more than an absurdist soap-opera bauble.

As filmmaking it's drearily anonymous — proof, if we needed it, that writing a screenplay via referendum is not a great idea.