Desperate attempt to be artsy fails in '21 Grams'

"21 Grams" tells the story of a terminally ill man (Sean Penn), a grieving mother (Naomi Watts) and a fundamentalist Christian ex-convict (Benicio Del Toro) whose lives are intertwined through a fatal accident.\nThe film could have been an intriguing look into the way that people are connected throughout the world, but director Alejandro González Iñárritu decided instead to make the most confusing artsy film ever created. Rather than telling the story in a direct manner, he apparently decided to cut up the film and splice it together in random order. In some movies, like "Pulp Fiction," this technique is very effective; in "21 Grams" the effect is a confusing mass of loosely connected scenes featuring the same characters.\nThe acting was superb, especially on the part of Del Toro. His portrayal of Jack Jordan, the fundamentalist Christian ex-convict, was sometimes disturbing, sometimes heart-wrenching and always very impressive. Unfortunately, he was caught in a movie that just didn't make sense.\nThe DVD didn't have any special features, at least not ones which could be found by the common viewer. The package brags a behind-the-scenes featurette, but it was apparently hidden so no one could ever watch it. Perhaps it's just artfully disguised on the menu screen? Wherever it was, the common audience member wouldn't be able to find it -- just like the plot of the movie.