Masked and Anonymous could be considered the cinematic equivalent of a Bob Dylan song. Unfortunately, it would not be one of Dylan's better songs. Granted, the movie does convey some of his cockeyed sense of humor, and it's hardly the first time he's been associated with gnomic writing that's peppered with an occasional non sequitur. But the film is a pretentious mess. The plot is too vague and lacks a strong narrative drive, the characters aren't very engaging, and the political context is too underdeveloped to have real meaning (despite some heavy handed symbolism); this is rebellion as an empty signifier of hipness, not a carefully thought out vision of a dystopian future. Furthermore, Jack Fate (Dylan) is enigmatic to the point of being a cipher. Dylan is a more expressive singer than actor; indeed, it's debatable whether he even tries to act in this film. There is some balance, however, since John Goodman and Jeff Bridges each chews enough scenery for a cast of thousands, and Jessica Lange's performance is almost as high strung as theirs. Giovanni Ribisi is the only cast member who's able to deliver an affecting line reading, perhaps because he's the only one who was given lines with any emotional substance. The movie can be entertaining if you really enjoy music references and in-jokes, or if you just regard the film as a series of Dylan music videos with a lot of needless filler between them. Also, the soundtrack features a nice potpourri of Dylan covers, including an excellent a cappella performance of "The Times They Are A-Changin'" by Tinashe Kachingwe (the only cast member whose performance seems completely unaffected). But too much of this film just seems muddled and self-indulgent.