AllMovie

Set in five neighborhoods of Los Angeles, director Christopher Landon's ensemble comedy drama Burning Palms follows a small group of protagonists as they shatter taboos and strive for success. When a lonely woman meets a handsome single father (Dylan McDermott), she thinks she's found the perfect mate. She begins to have second thoughts, however, upon witnessing his unusual interactions with his overly flirtatious adolescent daughter (Emily Meade). Meanwhile, a woman (Jamie Chung) seeking to please her sexually deviant boyfriend finds that the price of submission may be more than she's willing to pay, and a gay couple (Peter Macdissi and Anson Mount) begin to have second thoughts about adoption after welcoming an African child into their home. Things only get more absurd when a depressed woman (Zoe Saldana) makes a bizarre proposal to a man (Nick Stahl) who recently attacked her, and a mischievous boy engages his brothers in a series of increasingly twisted challenges. Rosamund Pike and Lake Bell co-star.