Starring Steven Soderburgh Directed by Steven Soderburgh Unrated, but of R quality with nudity, sex and profanity Running time 100 minutes Jack gives this film a rating of 7 out of 10

(June 13, 1997) -- With Schizopolis, filmmaker Steven Soderburgh defies all commercial logic -- along with a lot of narrative logic. He has created a surreal fantasy that manages to make no sense and a lot of sense all at the same time.

No kidding, this is one weird movie. But if you're open to the wacky experience and you are patient, you will have a lot of laughs and gain surprising insight into contemporary society.

Soderburgh is the Louisiana writer-director who became wunderkind of the moment in 1989 after sex, lies and videotape hit the screen. Since then, he has had less success with Kafka, King of the Hill, and Underneath, so he decided to retrench.

Accordingly, he made Schizopolis for a rumored $75,000, and is overseeing the distribution himself. He also simultaneously made Gray's Anatomy, with monologist Spalding Gray.

Soderburgh also stars in Schizopolis. The film, in other words, is a homemade production, like a wacky student movie but made by someone with considerably more experience.

Actually, I would like to have been a fly on the wall if Soderburgh had had to pitch Schizopolis to any conventional film distributor:

"Okay, guys, I've got this movie about twin guys. One is a speechwriter for some sort of New Age guru. Think L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology. The other is a dentist. They exist in parallel universes and when they change places, the speechwriter ends up having an affair with his own wife.

"Meanwhile, there's this exterminator who goes from house to house, eliminating sexual anxiety from a variety of overly eager housewives. Oh yes, once in a while a naked guy rides by on a bike.

"And, oh yes, sometimes my characters don't speak conventional English. Instead of saying hello, one says, `Generic greeting!' At another point, characters speak Japanese or Italian for no reason at all."

Oh sure, I can see Paramount or Miramax or Fox distributing THIS movie.

Still, I'm glad Soderburgh made it because its weirdness is fueled by wit, and its insanity leads to insight, whether it's about the superficial nature of everyday conversation or about devotion to pop culture demigods and psuedophilosophers.