Starring David Duchovny and Timothy Hutton Directed by Andy Wilson Rated R, with gory violence, profanity and drug use Running time 93 minutes Jack gives this film a rating of 3 out of 10

(Oct. 17, 1997) -- Playing God makes one thing clear: It's not time yet for David Duchovny to quit his day job -- the starring role in the hit TV series, The X Files.

Oh, it's not that he's all that bad in Playing God. It's the movie that bombs. Duchovny simply cruises through it with the dazed look of a pedestrian witnessing a car crash.

Playing God is a slapdash, haphazardly constructed gangster flick, with Duchovny as Eugene Sands, a drug-addicted former surgeon who has been stripped of his license.

One night at a bar, Eugene applies his medical skill to save a gunshot victim. This leads a flamboyant mobster named Raymond (Timothy Hutton) to put him on a retainer as his own personal physician. (Since Eugene is not legal, he operates on the knife and gunshot wounds of Raymond's associates without calling 911 or going to a hospital, where reports would be made to authorities.)

Eugene also has also impressed Raymond's seductive girlfriend, Claire. (Viewers take note: To pick up girls in nightclubs, try performing surgery on the bar.)

Eugene quickly earns his retainer by getting up to his elbows in bloody gore, because Raymond and his underlings make ample use of their guns and knives.

But Eugene's conscience begins to bother him, and he is recruited by a cop to help expose the mobster. Of course, the cop (Michael Massee) seems more slimy and less trustworthy than the gangster.

To make matters worse, Eugene also begins falling for Claire. It may be okay to play God, but it's never a good idea to lust after a gangster's girlfriend.

Screenwriter Mark Haskell Smith has come up with an intriguing setup -- and moral dilemma -- here, but doesn't seem to have a clue where to take it. First-time feature director Andy Wilson doesn't help. Like an unrestrained kid in a toy store, Wilson plays with all sorts of unnecessary movie tricks -- quick cuts, old-fashioned "wipes" between sequences, irrelevant flashbacks. He layers on far too much would-be style for such a flimsy tale.

Smith and Wilson also fail to find the proper, entertaining balance between melodrama and comedy. The laughs in the film often jar; it looks as if they tried to make a serious film, then gave up halfway through and shifted to black comedy.

Oscar-winning veteran Timothy Hutton is one of the few good things about Playing God. Going against his nice-guy image, he gives gangster Raymond an eccentric, demonic edge -- and virtually steals every scene he is in.

If the rest of the film had some of Hutton's delightfully dark energy, some of its other flaws may have been more forgivable.