STONE: like a rock - only much less interesting

If only STONE could have figured out what it wanted to be it might have been a halfway decent movie, but as it is it's a mish-mash of genres which never coalesce into anything approaching a satisfying whole.

As parole officer Jack Mabry, Robert De Niro gives what could have been an interesting performance if only he'd succeeded in breaking out of the metaphorical straitjacket he's wrapped his character in. Just weeks from retirement Mabry allows himself to be seduced and set up by the scheming wife (Milla Jovovich) of a convict (Edward Norton) whose case he is handling.
Norton and Jovovich prove considerably more successful in setting up Mabry than director John Curran does in setting up the plot. He can't decide if he wants it to be a thriller or a drama or a psychological drama/thriller or even simply coherent. If his intention was to confound our expectations he succeeds, but not for the reasons he intended. STONE confused me because it doesn't go anywhere logical, rational or even interesting but instead wanders around aimlessly, trying on different genre hats but never managing to settle on any one of them.
By the time we reach the grand anti-climax and the whole sorry mess finally skulks away I couldn't have cared less about anyone or anything. It's disappointing to see De Niro again settling for considerably less than his best, but after 'Little Fockers', 'Everybody's Fine', 'Righteous Kill'. 'Hide and Seek' and 'Meet the Fockers' I'm surprised I'm still surprised.