To call Tom Cruise and "actor" is generous at best. He appears in movies, and because he is pretty, people watch. He doesn't have enough talent to occupy minor character roles, and if he weren't so pretty, we would never have heard his name. But he is, and here he is, without enough horsepower to drive Ann Rice's seminal character, Lestat.<br /><br />But, as bad as Cruise is, he is Olivier compared to Pitt, the other megastar pretty boy non-actor. Pitt can't act his way out of a paper bag, and frankly, if you watch the plastic bag scene in American Beauty, you'll see a bag doing a better job at acting than Pitt will ever do.<br /><br />Neil Jordan decided to downplay the homosexual aspect of Rice's decadent vampires. Given the meager talent of the two leads, there isn't much left. Cruise and Pitt preen and pose through endless costume scenes and the obligatory vampire touchstones like fangs and blood, and it is mediocre beyond belief.<br /><br />Thank god for Kirsten Dunst. She is spectacular as Claudia, the young vampire denied the chance to grow up physically, but who becomes more wise and mature than any human adult. Without her, there would be nothing but air. Even Stephen Rea and Antonio Banderas are cardboard cutouts propped up in the scenery compared to her.<br /><br />Ann Rice has publicly said she approved of this presentation of her immensely popular book, but one can't help but wonder if she wasn't a bit disappointed, if the truth were told. I don't hate this movie, but I hate how it is diminished by relying on marquee names instead of talent.