We get yet another takedown of the rich and privileged in Emerald Fennell’s proudly smutty satire “Saltburn”. Excoriating the wealthy on the big screen has almost become old hat. But that hasn’t stopped filmmakers from beating that familiar drum, often to their own tunes. In “Saltburn” Fennell’s tune is more of an obnoxious drone – a persistent clamor of shallow, uninspired revelry and shock value hiding behind a beautifully shot veneer.

Fennell’s 2020 feature film debut “Promising Young Woman” was a sassy and sharp-edged thriller that had something to say. It was gutsy, provocative, and timely, taking on warped views of masculinity with its fists clenched and a twinkle in its eye. “Saltburn” is quite the opposite. It’s a mostly rhythmless confection that’s obsessed with its own coolness and edginess. Its intentions are rarely a mystery and its salacious swings at provocation offer little more than smug and hollow commentary at best.

Fennell certainly has the star power starting with her Oscar-nominated lead, Barry Keoghan. He plays Oliver Quick, a studious outcast in his first year at Oxford University. It doesn’t take long for the quiet and unassuming Oliver to earn our sympathies, especially after we hear that he’s an only child and is estranged from his parents due to their mental health and addiction issues. But we feel for him even more after he becomes enamored with the hunky, popular, and extremely wealthy Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi).

The two meet after Oliver helps Felix out of a jam. Oliver desperately wants into Felix’s upper-class social circle. Felix seems sympathetic, especially after Oliver gets word that his father has died. The two form a friendship although the depth of it is never really clear (well, maybe in the final 15 minutes). As finals approach Felix makes a rather spontaneous gesture. He invites Oliver to spend the summer with him and his family at their lavish estate called Saltburn.

Things are going pretty good up to this point. But from the moment Felix introduces Oliver to his family at Saltburn, Fennell begins losing her grip. Her story turns out to be pretty barebones and basic but surprisingly ends up woefully underserved. That’s because Fennell loses her creative self within this glaringly phony world of debauchery and opulence. As a result, things like narrative structure, story progression, and character development get tossed aside for warped and edgier grasps for attention.

Among the casualties of Fennell’s overcooked hankering to push the envelope are the characters themselves. Take Felix’s aristocratic family: his wild-haired father Sir James Catton (Richard E. Grant), his oblivious mother Lady Elsbeth (Rosamund Pike), his indolent sister Venetia (Alison Oliver), and his freeloading cousin Farleigh (Archie Madekwe). In a way each of them serve their purpose. But they’re little more than disposable playthings for Fennell to toy around with and disregard. And none of them ever grow beyond what we initially learn of them. Felix – spoiled beyond his own comprehension but with a heart of gold – is easily the most compelling.

As for Keoghan, he certainly commits to Fennell’s twisted vision. The Irish actor is no stranger to playing off-center characters who sheepishly skulk around on the periphery. But here the material is so lacking that his eventual transformation from meek and nebbish into something more devious and depraved is a hard sell. This is especially true in the final act where Fennell rushes to bring Oliver’s story to some kind of credible conclusion. But it’s so lazy and outlandish. Even worse, Fennell spoon-feeds us every single answer, leaving nothing for the imagination.

The movie ends with an eye-rolling, self-indulgent final sequence that’s a perfect encapsulation of everything wrong with “Saltburn”. It’s a doltish and pointless finish that reveals a filmmaker more infatuated with kinky excesses than satisfying storytelling. And that’s a shame because we get teases of a better movie. And Fennell’s shrewdness with the camera is undeniable. But that’s nowhere near enough to save this narcissistic poster child for style over substance. “Saltburn” is now showing in select theaters.

VERDICT – 1.5 STARS