What do you mean? This movie was full of hooks; both lefts and rights.

Josh Harnett - idealist, untrustworthy of himself and others. Far from Nick and Jack.

I wonder if perhaps De Palma hasn't been permitted by studios to cast real stars in his movies for quite some time now; the last one he got to work with was Tom Cruise, and that was in '96.
Since then he's had to make do with the likes of Cage, Sinise, Banderas, Rebecca Romijn, Rachel McAdams, Noomi Rapaace, the cast of unknowns in "Redacted", etc.
It might be that his movies tend to be expensive because of his elaborate visual style, so, to cut costs, he has to work with B-quality actors.
Certainly this movie was hurt by bad casting. But yeah, the structure of the script is odd. Nothing to immediately grab us into the story and no real sense of when the actual story begins. Was De Palma bored making it?

I thought Mia Kirshner as Elizabeth Short was "hook" enough for the film. Her performance and the visuals made it worth the trip to the theater.
It's definitely my least favorite De Palma film but it had the above redeeming qualities.
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