Even devotees of indie director Hal Hartley might have trouble warming up to this lifeless take on the Beauty and the Beast myth and the monster movie genre. Boasting exotic locations and a cast that includes Sarah Polley, Julie Christie, and Helen Mirren, the movie is in many ways Hartley's biggest yet. However, unlike Henry Fool, his previous feature and an epic in its own right, No Such Thing is glaringly skimpy in its gifts. Though reliably deadpan and formally adventurous, the movie is so minimalist in its approach to narrative as to be almost contemptuous of the audience. Perhaps most grating is Hartley's stab at social commentary. The movie fires off puerile rants on the media, fame, society, and science, among others. Aiming for broad, biting satire, Hartley ends up betraying his own lack of sophistication on real-world topics. It's a sad display -- the light, disarmingly self-aware touch of previous films has given way to ham-handed pontificating. Borderline terrible, the movie features a fine performance by Hartley regular Robert John Burke as the cranky monster. Even better is the consistently superb Sarah Polley as the beauty that tames the beast -- she gives her character a gravitas the movie doesn't deserve. Good as they are, the pair can't by themselves save this enervating mess. Whether No Such Thing is an aberration in a distinguished filmmaker's career or the first hint of a downward slide remains to be seen.