A BIGGER SPLASH (2016) ** ½

If you’re a fan of Ralph Fiennes then A Bigger Splash will give you plenty to enjoy.  His exuberant performance dominates this uneven and overlong tale of an outrageous music producer (Fiennes) inviting himself to stay for the weekend with a former flame (Tilda Swinton) and her meek hubby (Matthias Schoenarts).  When Ralph is front and center getting high, dancing around, and ranting and raving about The Rolling Stones, the movie has an undeniable charm and bite.  When he is absent from the screen, the rest of the cast fail to generate much sizzle on their own.  (Having Swinton play a character who can only speak in whispers was a huge miscalculation.) 

The film also suffers from a weird and awkward structure.  For three-fourths of its running time, it plays like a slacker Hang Out Movie.  Think a Richard Linklater version of a Cameron Crowe flick as told by Merchant Ivory.  Then, things go off the deep end when the picture inexplicably turns into a Patricia Highsmith style thriller. 

Still, even when the flick flounders and Fiennes is nowhere to be found, his character still lingers on the minds of the other characters (and the audience).  I mean the scene where he dances wildly to Emotional Rescue alone is worth the price of admission.  He also shows his dick so much that his member probably deserved its own billing.