Warning: 'Side Effects' May Include Eye-Rolling

In Steven Soderbergh's medical thriller Side Effects, Emily (Rooney Mara) goes through an emotional crisis and then a psychopharmacological one after her husband Martin (Channing Tatum) is released from prison.

Side Effects

Rated R for violence, profanity, drug use

With: Channing Tatum, Rooney Mara, Jude Law, Catherine Zeta-Jones

It's the drug's fault, man. That's the defense offered by the perpetrator brought to trial in Side Effects, a stylish, vaguely Hitchcockian dud. But what excuse does this fatally silly movie have?

The film, reportedly the final big-screen effort for prolific director Steven Soderbergh, begins in a New York apartment where something bad has happened. Blood on the floor, smeared and tracked by footprints, suggests murder, suicide or extreme clumsiness.

It's not the last option, of course. But then the story hits rewind, postponing the moment when we learn who was hurt, and how.

Three months earlier, Emily (Rooney Mara) is waiting for her husband's release from prison. Martin (Channing Tatum) isn't the violent type; he went away for insider trading. Yes, the beefy actor who usually plays dancers, thugs or thuggish dancers is now impersonating a Wall Street broker. It's dubious casting, but not nearly so implausible as the script.

Emily played the role of loyal wife while Martin was in the pen, but she seems to crack once he's free. An apparent suicide attempt puts her under the care of Jonathan Banks (Jude Law), the psychiatrist on duty when Emily is transported to a Manhattan hospital.

Her case is perplexing, and Jonathan soon consults Emily's previous shrink, Victoria Siebert (Catherine Zeta-Jones). Suspiciously prim in pulled-back hair and thick-framed glasses, Victoria gently guides Jonathan to prescribe a new antipsychotic drug for Emily. He's amenable and already has a cozy consulting gig with one pharmaceutical company.

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Warning: 'Side Effects' May Include Eye-Rolling