Mr. Almodovar, who wrote as well as directed, does not quite bring the events together, but his wry attitude toward conventional morality is not lost, and the acting is sufficiently controlled to keep the characters from running away into farce.

Plenty of premise but little payoff.

The film operates like a high key sitcom, where camaraderie overrules plot contrivances. However, unlike the pithy misunderstandings of American primetime television, character development overrules the drama of sex, drugs and money.

There is never the sense that Almodóvar is mocking the human being...