Urban horror or David Mamet's unique vision of New York City from the point of view of one hapless white man named Edmond? I'm not sure, but you have to be rather sorry for this man who is clueless about his surroundings and inexorably marching to his own doom (or bliss, judging by where he winds up). It's as if somehow, some vital piece that would make Edmond a functional part of society had ceased to exist. Edmond (William H. Macy) allows a cryptic number (115) and a reading by a psychic (played by Frances Bay in her usual creepy old lady mode) take over and drive him to suddenly leave his wife (Rebecca Pidgeon), seek enjoyment in gentleman clubs and sleazy peep shows, where he gets conned again and again by the women whom he encounters (Denise Richards, Mena Suvari, and Bai Ling), have increasingly violent encounters with street thugs and finally lose it when a waitress (Julia Stiles) fails to acknowledge his crazy demands. Some of the things that happen to him seem contrived to excessive lengths. Where a rich man like Edmond would penny pinch for ten dollars a hooker owes him, or be unable to negotiate money with another is beyond plausibility, but it happens here like this sort of thing happens on a daily basis to quite a bit of upper crust white men who live in snazzy penthouse apartments in Manhattan. Harder to imagine is why Julia Stiles would on the spur of the moment agree to leave her job and bring this clearly crazy man to her apartment and fail to see just how deeply insane he is. Even if he had looked like Daniel Craig, I can't see this man being a believable character one second. David Mamet is obviously a great playwright but this is a very dated play that belongs in a New York closer to the late Seventies where it wouldn't be out of place. And even then, the joke is squarely aimed at poor Edmond -- he can't have a normal relationship with a woman. The only relationship he acquiesces to is that with another man (Bokeem Woodbine) -- a black inmate, for that matter, as an irony of ironies (since for the most of EDMOND he's been attacking blacks and gays alike). That the last scene has reduced both men to frills and sewing and discussing karma and why we are here and what does all this mean is the final emasculating thing that could happen to any man, but this is exactly what happens in EDMOND. Happy ending? I'd say David Mamet must have read something from Jean Genet and decided to take the most indirect approach to the subject.
