The Jester

"The Jester," an avant-garde film from Portugal, has several plots revolving around the production of a classic Portuguese play — "The Jester" — with parallels in the play's characters to the people putting it on. The main story has to do with a couple's on-again-off-again romance and the death of an amateur illegal arms dealer whose childhood best friend is telling the story in flashback form.

A rather obtuse attempt to cover far too much ground with an approach that is aloof, forced and with broad humor that never gels. Some good performances and nice set-pieces, but ultimately it's overlong (more than two hours) and dull.

In Portuguese, with English subtitles, "The Jester" is unrated, but would doubtless carry a PG for violence, profanity and nudity.