EVOCATIVE `ASK THE DUST' LACKS THE NECESSARY SOUL.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic

RICH ON atmosphere, heavy with metaphor and short on the kind of vitality that might fix an audience's interest, ``Ask the Dust'' is Robert Towne's latest meditation on Los Angeles' past, a place that tantalizes immigrants, throws them together and asks them to get along. Think of it as a prewar ``Crash,'' without that picture's pretensions, but also without its beating heart.

With South African sound stages standing in for a long-gone Bunker Hill, the film possesses the evocative feel of a city whose dreamers are swept to and fro by the Santa Ana winds. But the movie's mood can carry it only so far and can't overcome a listless pace, jumpy narrative and the miscasting of Colin Farrell as the male half of its culture-colliding romance.

Farrell plays struggling writer Arturo Bandini, an Italian-American who has come to Los Angeles to gain experience and (hopefully) bag a few beautiful blondes. Initially a bit shy to dip his big toe into the city's cesspool, Bandini eventually performs a belly flop when he meets Mexican barmaid Camilla (Salma Hayek). Once Bandini sees her, he quite understandably stops chasing the golden girls.

Camilla, however, has her own issues. Self-destructive and self-loathing (because of her race), Camilla baits Bandini and he returns the favor. The two trade insults in between skinny-dipping in the Pacific and even try on other partners for size. Bandini spends time with an emotionally fragile Jewish woman (Indina Menzel) who makes Camilla seem grounded; Camilla can't help believing that a white bartender (Justin Kirk) will erase her feelings of racial inadequacy.

The film is adapted from John Fante's 1939 novel, which is lionized by hipsters like Towne and Charles Bukowski. Towne has wanted to make this movie for 30 years and, as is sometimes the case, that kind of devotion translates into a project that bristles with detail, but seems overly thought out. Towne knows the city and the era, he just can't bring them to life.

Hayek is smart and smoldering, but Farrell seems wrong for Bandini. His youth serves the character well in the early going, but as the months and years (and earthquakes; Towne pulls off the 1933 Long Beach quake in Cape Town and acquits himself well, given his budget) roll by, Bandini remains a cipher. Farrell can't get a handle on the man's brewing stew of cynicism and regret. By the end, Bandini has become an abstract idea, blown out to sea.

Glenn Whipp, [phone]

glenn.whipp(at)dailynews.com

ASK THE DUST - Two and one half stars

(R: sexuality, nudity, language)

Starring: Colin Farrell, Salma Hayek

Director: Robert Towne.

Running time: 1 hr. 57 min.

Playing: AMC Century 15 in Century City; Arclight in Hollywood; AMC Santa Monica Seven.

In a nutshell: Robert Towne returns to L.A.'s past with mixed results.

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Struggling writer Arturo Bandini (Colin Farrell) comes to L.A. to gain experience - and finds more than he bargains for when he meets barmaid Camilla (Salma Hayek) in ``Ask the Dust.''