Nikki: Are you enjoying yourself, Freddie? Freddie Howard: Well... There is a vast network, right? An ocean of possibilities. I like dogs. I used to raise rabbits. I've always loved animals. Their nature. How they think. I have seen dogs reason their way out of problems. Watched them think through the trickiest situations. Do you have a couple of bucks I could borrow? I've got this damn landlord.<br /><br />Wow! Okay....so if you thought David Lynch's last film 'Mulholland Drive' wasn't weird enough....'Inland Empire' will be a real treat. Loaded with a bunch of cameos from high profile and very talented actors, 'Inland Empire' is basically a 3-hour nightmare of our heroine Nikki Grace (Laura Dern). Nikki is a struggling actress who gets a part in a big Oscar bait movie that's a remake of a Polish film that was never completed. However the acceptance of the role comes with a cautious and spooky warning from some random old woman (Grace Zabriskie -- HBO's Big Love) who tells Nikki that the movie is "cursed". Nikki, who thinks the old woman is off her rocker, accepts the role anyway and after that strange things begin to happen to her and the lines between reality and fantasy begin to blur. Unlike any of Lynch's other films beside perhaps 'Eraserhead', 'Inland Empire' makes absolutely no sense. 'Mulholland Drive' at least had an understandable plot, 'Inland Empire' is just so scattered, off-the-wall and random that it's impossible to understand from one viewing. I guess I'll have to watch it a couple more times to TRULY understand the film. That being said I look forward to seeing it again. Although it didn't make sense, it's a beautiful film from a cinematography/directing standpoint. Always the innovator, David Lynch takes his film-making craft to new heights with this extremely original and awesomely shot three hour epic. The acting is solid as well. Laura Dern is absolutely incredible as the lead, giving one of if not her best screen performance yet. Dern nails the role and let's hope for a Best Actress Oscar Nomination that WON'T happen next awards season. That being said Dern has support from big actors in tiny roles. Jeremy Irons is fabulous as always as the film within a film's director while Justin Theroux is perfectly cast as Dern's co-star. Harry Dean Stanton, who you might know as the twisted polygamist tyrant in HBO's masterful drama 'Big Love', is delightfully creepy/awkward in a minuscule part as Jeremy Iron's character's assistant. Daine Ladd, Naomi Watts, Mary Steenburgen, William H. Macy, Scott Coffey, Laura Harring, Diane Ladd and Big Love's Grace Zabriskie (who is delightfully morbid) are all solid in cameo roles. Like I previously stated, 'Inland Empire' probably won't make any sense to you. Your average movie goer will hate it, but those who see movies more as art rather than entertainment will probably find some way of appreciating it. I didn't love 'Inland Empire', I'm not even sure I liked it, but I sure as hell appreciated it. Grade: B