So, is anyone in the mood for an ambiguous, overly sentimental, time traveling thriller of a love story? Yeah? Good thing, because if this hodge podge of a mish mash sounds like your cup of tea, then you're likely to just fall in love with The Jacket. Let's take it from the top.

In the opening moments of The Jacket we meet Jack Starks, a soldier in the Gulf War. He's in the midst of a battle and lowers his guard just long enough to offer help to a young Iraqi boy, only to be shot in the head by the little tyke. We're then led to believe that Jack survived the attack. A year later, Jack's randomly roaming the streets of his hometown in Vermont, when he stops to help a young girl and her mother who are experiencing car troubles (stop helping the kids Jack!). While the mother is obviously on something of a mind-altering nature, Jack and the young girl bond in the few moments it takes him to miraculously fix their car. By the time the scene is over, Jack has given the young girl (Jackie Price) his dog tags.

Moving forward, Jack is picked up and offered a ride by a stranger, who is almost immediately pulled over by the police. Shots are fired and in a fairly quick montage, Jack is put on trial, and locked away in a mental institution by reason of insanity (all of the above takes place within the films' opening 10-15 minutes, I kid you not).

I'm not going to move too much further along with the description, as this IS the films' basic set up. And believe me when I tell you that I'm giving absolutely nothing away here. Truly a testament to how complicated (and convoluted) this story can get. Let's just say that while Jack is locked away, he's given some bizarre medical 'treatment' including being strapped into a straight jacket and left in a morgue-corpse-drawer for hours on end. It's while in this drawer that Jack is able to travel into the future. Jack meets up with people from his past (while in the future) including young Jackie, who has now developed into a deliciously delectable young woman, played by Keira Knightley. Has Jack died? If so, how many times has he died? Will Jack ever find peace? And most importantly, do they offer 'The Jacket' in a size 34?

In one of the featurettes included as an extra on this DVD, the films' screenwriter Massy Tadjedin talks about how she were able to creatively play with the story (The Jacket is based on a book), and the fact that they had so many subplots to deal with, they could zoom in to focus on one or two ideas to expand upon. This is really part of the problem with an adaptation like this. The creative brains on display here, are so far removed from the original text, so that when they take it as their own and run with it, they seem to lose connection with the work altogether.

In addition to the films' seemingly lack of 'soul' some of the films' dialogue is really inept as well. At one point, one of Jack's fellow 'inmates' tells him "This is our court, I'm ready to throw the ball!" Ugh, I cringe just thinking about the Kevin Spacey wannabe spouting that line. And then there's another moment in which a nurse tells Jack that he's a little underweight, to which his reply is "Maybe I'm working it off in my dreams!" Now, I can't even begin to tell you how many things are wrong with that statement.

In theory, The Jacket would appear to have a lot going for it. An inventive slick look (the films' director learned his trade from short films and music videos, natch) and one hell of a supporting ensemble cast, including: Kris Kristofferson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kelly Lynch, Brad Renfro and (of all people) Mackenzie Phillips (big One Day At A Time fan are ya?). Billed under the Warner Independent moniker, The Jacket still had an estimated budget of around 20 million (along with the producing power of George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh behind it), which is a far cry from the pennies a struggling indie filmmaker would be used to dealing with.

Audio and video quality are far above average for such an 'independent' production. Picture quality on the anamorphic image is stunning, while the digital surround mix is at times subtle; it's still pretty effective. Nice to see they didn't skimp in this arena. Extras include two featurettes including The Jacket - Project History and Deleted Scenes. At just under 30-minutes, it's an interesting look at the making of the film, from a few creative eyes involved with the production and it also offers a few deleted scenes with commentary. However, this featurette also offers more insight as to how misguided this production really seems. Next up is a 10-minute piece entitled The Look of The Jacket. It offers up exactly what it sounds like it would offer, a brief overview of the films' visual style. Adding more insult to injury, one of the FX guys comments on how they really had no direction from the filmmaker, and he basically tells us that he didn't see the value in pre-production screenings of the director's earlier works...ouch.

In the end, those behind The Jacket seem to believe its value to be much higher than the marketplace. When I hear a films' screenwriter say something to the effect of "I wanted this scene to be another thriller like moment" or when I view three alternate endings that throw the story in every which direction you can imagine, I begin to lose faith in a production I wouldn't have put that much stock into to begin with. And The Jacket is far too open-ended (in a really lazy kind of way) for it to hold much weight. While The Jacket looks and sounds good, and the film offers up a fine cast and performances, there's little else to grasp onto. As a short, The Jacket would have been a fine and mildly amusing Twilight Zone-esque piece, while at feature length, it's like a mad scientist's concoction of Twilight Zone meets 'movie of the week' and in the end, ultimately doesn't live up to its expectations.