Perhaps basing his conceptual thinking on the unsound idea that The New Republic subscribers are clamoring for an Ace Ventura type they can call their own, cowriter-codirector Douglas McGrath (Emma) stars as a bumbling prep-school grammarian who lies his way into the CIA and winds up engineering the Bay of Pigs fiasco. McGrath and collaborator Peter Askin obviously intended an homage to Bananas (they even enlisted Woody Allen for a small role) by way of Our Man in Havana, but they either didn't have the budget or lacked the production savvy to create any kind of credible Cold War atmosphere; hence, the picture often plays like an amateur theatrical effort with big stars (Sigourney Weaver and Ryan Phillippe, among them). McGrath's persona, an energetic nerd who drives people nuts by ceaselessly correcting their speech, does have his moments, particularly the inspired bit where he ingests a dose of LSD intended for his opponent in a debate (who happens to be Fidel Castro, played here by Anthony LaPaglia). But at other times—as when McGrath, Allen, et al. are forced to impersonate a rock 'n' roll band—you just cringe with embarrassment for everybody involved. Granted, this is one bizarro movie—where would anyone even get the idea to cast Alan Cumming as Batista?—but it's perhaps better encountered on cable, in some sort of intoxicant-induced haze, than in a theater.