Although the scene where Madeleine brings Bucky home to her family is the first one in the film where De Palma allows any true personality (of his own or of his actors) to seep through, the rest of the scenes involving the Linscotts grow increasingly difficult to watch. (Fiona Shaw must have piled on fifty pounds from all the scenery she ate here.) De Palma has reportedly said that he saw Black Dahlia as a "comic opera," and that's painfully evident in the Linscott scenes. This jarring shift in tone and the sloppy execution of those scenes is what ultimately derails this movie.

As a whodunit, we can figure out which party was behind Betty's death a mile away. As a Film Noir, Dahlia seems more of a send-up than an homage. It makes all the mistakes that its counterpart, L.A. Confidential, wisely avoided (comparisons between the two films are inevitable). Whereas Confidential happened to take place during the era of Noir, Dahlia apes the genre to the point of cliche, making it feel too staged and aware of its own artificiality. The actors often appear too self-conscious of their Noir dialogue; only Hartnett and Kirshner come out with consistent and nuanced performances.

Brian De Palma is certainly an underrated director but it's the sloppy, over-the-top fare that he's made over the last decade or so that has diminished his standing as a filmmaker. Unfortunately, rather than being his comeback film, The Black Dahlia is just the latest in a long line of disappointments from De Palma.