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'Broken Flowers': Bill Murray at his wry best

Jim Jarmusch will probably never be a mainstream filmmaker. He is more interested in character than plot, and his movies can be aggravatingly slow, annoyingly subtle and maddeningly open-ended.

Still, that is what makes him an ideal collaborator for Bill Murray, as their new film Broken Flowers shows.

Focus Features 'Broken Flowers' B The verdict: A shaggy-dog-story odyssey with Murray at his wry, impassive best. Director: Jim Jarmusch Starring: Bill Murray, Jeffrey Wright, Sharon Stone, Frances Conroy, Jessica Lange Run time: 105 minutes Release date: August 5, 2005 Rating: R for language, some graphic nudity and brief drug use. See showtimes On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime Rate "Broken Flowers"   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

In it, Murray plays a lethargic, perhaps depressed, yet wealthy bachelor whose unflappable manner will be sorely tested by the sudden arrival of an anonymous letter from an ex-girlfriend, announcing that he has a son, now 19 years old. Prodded by his neighbor, who is far more intrigued by this news than he is, Murray sets off on a shaggy-dog-story road trip unlike any ever captured on film.

As Don Johnston — a name that invariably draws snickers and snide comments about the former Miami Vice star — Murray rarely registers any emotion, yet he convincingly suggests that there is a lot going on behind that impassive expression.

He barely blinks when his current lover (Julie Delpy of Before Sunset) announces she is leaving him. He would surely still be on his couch if his next-door neighbor, an industrious Ethiopian named Winston (Jeffrey Wright), did not work out an itinerary for him to visit his exes, booking him economical but uncomfortable rental cars at each interchangeable airport.

Clutching a bouquet of pink roses — chosen to match the unsigned letter — Don makes cold calls on women he has not talked to in decades, since their relationships ended, often badly, usually because of his indifference.

The warmest reception he gets is from Laura (Sharon Stone), the recent widow of a race-car driver, who takes Murray into her bed, but has little to say to him. He also attracts the attention of her teenage daughter Lolita, whose parading about the house stark naked suggests a willingness to live up to her name, even if she is oblivious to its literary implications.

Next is real-estate agent Dora (Frances Conroy), a dull woman who offers him a bland dinner, but the mood turns dark and awkward when he brings up the subject of children. So it is off to visit Carmen (Jessica Lange), an overbooked "animal communicator" who solves the emotional problems of well-heeled pets but has little time or interest in helping Murray with his quest.

Last, there is Penny (Tilda Swinton), who lives on a remote farm cluttered with motorcycles and is the least welcoming to this visitor from the past. It is amusing to speculate how Don chose his girlfriends years ago, since they seem to have so little in common. If any of them is the mother of his child, she has decided not to give him the satisfaction of letting on. He finds clues along his journey, but they are likely all red herrings.

Broken Flowers ends with a sequence that suggests Don is receptive to being a father to his son, but Jarmusch is too quirky to end his film conclusively. Viewers, however, are unlikely to regret going along for this ride.