When the dons of the Dogme 95 movement team up, you just know that mischief is going to be made. And so it proves with Dear Wendy, a provocative pot-shot at US gun culture directed by Thomas Vinterberg (Festen) and written by Lars Von Trier. By turns amusing, unsettling and exciting, it centres on a band of misfits led by Dick (Jamie Bell) who form a firearm fetishists' club called The Dandies. A heady mix of allegory and anarchy, it could be a companion piece to Von Trier's Dogville - only this time, they've splashed some cash on the sets.

Indeed, the film's most unambiguous pleasure lies in its production values: the action revolves around a handsomely purpose-built town square while the showy costumes wouldn't look out of place in Gangs Of New York. Trouble is, there's a strange tension between Vinterberg's realist ambitions and Von Trier's sarky, irony-caked script that makes this seem more of a bemusing art experiment than a fully realised drama.

"GOES OUT WITH A BANG"

Yet this isn't too far off target. Despite a slow pace, the Dandies' queasy fascination with the whole science of shooting, from marksmanship to exit wounds, won't let you get restless. Good performances, too, with Bell's brooding outsider well supported by the likes of Bill Pullman's easy-going sheriff and dotty grandma Novella Nelson, who unleashes a side-splitting surprise in the second half. And the film really goes out with a bang, as Vinterberg stages a suspenseful Western-style showdown that fires off all sorts of fancy flourishes.