Naked

`Naked' has clever dialogue but is filled with mean-spirited characters.

The title of "Naked' refers more to naked emotions than naked bodies . . . though there is plenty of both.

David Thewlis gives an impressive performance (he won the best actor award at the Cannes Film Festival last year) and is the film's main drawing card. He plays Johnny, an intelligent and educated homeless man in Manchester, England, who travels down to London in search of an old girlfriend named Louise (Lesley Sharp).

We get a stark introduction to the character's antisocial behavior in the opening scene, as Johnny is having sex in an alley with an unidentified woman. At first she seems to be consenting but then she begins to resist as the sex gets uglier and more violent. When she runs away, Johnny heads for the street, finds a car with keys left in the trunk and drives off to London.

When he finally locates his girlfriend's apartment, he discovers it isn't really hers — Louise has become a roommate to a nurse who is away on an extended trip. Louise is out when Johnny arrives, and he's greeted by yet another roommate, Sophie (Katrin Cart-lidge), an unemployed, drugged-out wreck who is entranced by Johnny's dry wit. Sophie also has a clever tongue but she's easily manipulated — and that's just what Johnny likes most in a woman.

Eventually, Johnny — who can be charming under all the scruffiness — is seducing Sophie and alienating Louise, as well as picking up other women as he knocks about throughout the greater London area.

The film also follows a less focused parallel story, about another sociopath (Greg Cruttwell) who is even nastier than Johnny. But, since he wears a suit and drives a snazzy car, he is, of course, more socially acceptable — at least on the surface. This entire subplot feels phony, and compared to Thewlis, Cruttwell is a cartoon.

"Naked" is filled with rich ideas and clever dialogue — and the character of Johnny reminded me a bit of the late John Lennon, who was also quick with a quip that seemed to mask darker under-pin-nings. Or, sometimes a quip that was dark and mean and quite obvious.

And there are some enjoyable scenes, as when Johnny gets into a philosophical discussion with a night watchman.

But the overriding aspect of all this is the film's driving anger, a mean-spirited cruelty that never abates. After a time you just want to turn a firehose on these people.

The audience will likely come away just wishing Johnny — and the others — would grow up. The question is whether you want to wait around and watch it.

"Naked" is not rated but would unquestionably get an R for considerable violence, sex, nudity, profanity and vulgarity, along with some marijuana smoking.