Grade: B

Verdict: A well-observed domestic drama about marriage.

Details: Starring Anthony LaPaglia, Barbara Hershey and Geoffrey Rush. Directed by Ray Lawrence. Rated R for sex, language and implied violence. 2 hours.

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Review: "Lantana" may sound like a struggling rock band, but it's actually a nearly impenetrable Australian plant, whose lovely blooms camouflage a nest of thorns and sinewy vines.

In Ray Lawrence's movie of the same name, lantana's ugly hidden nature serves as a metaphor for the tangled emotions beneath the smooth-surface lives of four Australian couples.

Leon (Anthony LaPaglia), a police detective married to Sonja (Kerry Armstrong), is feeling the regretful pangs of middle age. So he beds Jane (Rachael Blake), recently separated from husband Pete (Glenn Robbins). Leon isn't sure what he wants from their relationship, but when Jane presses for a possible commitment, he snaps: "This isn't an affair. It's a one-night stand that happened twice."

Sonja knows something's not right, so she's seeing an upscale shrink named Valerie (Barbara Hershey), whose marriage to John (Geoffrey Rush) has been off-kilter in the 18 months since their young daughter was killed.

Finally, there's Nik (Vince Colosimo) and Paula (Daniela Farinacci) whose problems are more financial than emotional. They're trying to raise three kids on her nurse's salary and his unemployment check. When one of the characters goes missing, Leon gets the case. But his investigation is really a thinly disguised dissection of marriage.

Director Lawrence, known for his commercials, hasn't made a feature since "Bliss" in 1986. He isn't interested in neat solutions. Nor is he interested in pure character studies. That's probably why "Lantana" works as a crime story and a psychological drama.

Fittingly, Leon is at the center of both. LaPaglia — who's been so good in so many second-banana roles (sort of the B-list Alec Baldwin) — gives the best performance of his career. He meticulously builds a painful portrait of middle-aged . . . what? Not angst. Not ennui. A middle-aged dolefulness perhaps. Or confusion. Or maybe a crippling loss of faith in yourself and what your life is about.

While he's the standout, the rest of the ensemble cast is excellent, too. Collectively, they trace the nuances of loneliness, melancholy and distrust.

It sounds pretty bleak. It is. And it's slow. But it's not bleak as in despairing and dull. Ultimately, "Lantana's" mystery isn't about what happened to the missing person; it's about what happened to everyone else.

— Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution