Written by Nicole Pedersen
Available now on Apple is a trailer for a movie I had never heard of – so naturally I wanted to check it out. The movie is "Quid Pro Quo" and it stars Nick Stahl (" Sin City", "Terminator 3") and Vera Farmiga (that hot shrink from "The Departed"). Written and directed by new comer Carlos Brooks, "Quid Pro Quo" seems to be an homage to Cronenberg weirdness, except without all of the icky cool.

The story follows a New York Public Radio reporter named Isaac Knott (Stahl) who has been in a wheelchair since he was eight years old. When he receives a tip that able bodied folks are attempting to have their legs removed, he begins his own investigation only to uncover a weird underworld where people can only feel whole when they are literally broken.

Sounds a little like Cronenberg's "Crash," right? Except this time what turns people on is amputation instead of car crashes. If only the trailer looked more like "Crash" or "Eastern Promises" I would be onboard, but you know when you see a trailer that wants to tell you the story instead of showing it to you? This is one of those trailers, and it almost never bodes well for the film's content. I think they even reveal their big plot 'twist' near the end – Ooopps!

Yes, Farmiga looks kind of hot in her bustier and prosthetic legs and yes, the movie looks well-crafted, but for such provocative subject matter it also feels a bit spiritless and dull. Magnolia, the company handling "Quid Pro Quo's" distribution, describes the film as a 'modern noir' detective tale. I must have missed that part – unless they were talking about the woman known only as "Ancient Chinese Girl" – does that name count as thrilling? On second thought no. Just kind of out of place and odd.

"Quid Pro Quo" is rated R and will have a limited release on June 13, 2008. For HD click here.