Icelandic writer/director Dagur Kári made an assured debut with Noi The Albino in 2003, but his latest Dark Horse pales in comparison. This similarly themed comedy drama does offer the occasional chuckle, with Jakob Cedergren playing the sort of poker-faced urbanite slacker who wouldn't be out of place in an early Kevin Smith movie, but these moments are more spaced out than his junkie sweetheart played by Tilly Scott Pedersen.

We're promised a lot of deadpan whimsy in the opening scene as Daniel (Cedergren) coolly informs the taxman that he's only earned seven Euros in two years because he's being kept by a supermodel. In fact he earns a crust as a graffiti artist and spends the rest of the time debating matters like the comparative virtues of differently filled donuts with his portly pal 'Grandpa' (Nicholas Bro).

It's amusing for a while but Daniel's addled state of mind is reflected in a jumble of episodes that fail to compensate for the lack of a gripping storyline. When it turns out that Daniel and Grandpa are both lusting after the same girl (Pedersen), the strands begin to entwine only to quickly come undone again.

"SOAPY MELODRAMA"

The tone shifts and it seems Kári is reaching for some profound truth about the stages of man (employing black-and-white photography to assure us he's serious) and instead descends into soapy melodrama. Suddenly Bro's turn as the hapless sidekick becomes essential comedy relief; unfortunately he gets gradually less screen time as Dark Horse limps to the finish like a tired old nag.

In Danish with English subtitles.

Dark Horse (Voksne Mennesker) is released in UK cinemas on Friday 5th January 2006.