Hollywood loves a good conspiracy theory, and there’s no better way to get attention than to make a timely film about something the U.S. government is doing wrong.

"Rendition," directed by Gavin Hood ("Tsostsi"), is a direct attack on the Bush administration for its illegal and secretive use of torture to interrogate suspected terrorists. This sounds both bold and promising in theory, but the film’s objective is completely lost in its drawling plot, unimpressive acting — despite big names — and complete failure to identify itself with real-world events.

Isabella Fields El-Ibrahimi (Reese Witherspoon, "Walk the Line") spends the film searching for her Egyptian husband, Anwar, who has vanished en route between South Africa and their Chicago home. He is wrongly taken into custody by CIA analyst Douglas Freeman (Jake Gyllenhaal, "Zodiac") under suspicion of terrorism and is subjected to some highly suspicious interrogation at an undisclosed military base somewhere in northern Africa.

To further complicate things — and to disallow any interesting character development — there are quite a few more characters, with subplots including a tedious and consuming side story about a girl whose father was the target of the terrorist attack in question, and whose boyfriend was involved, and the twisted plot continues — and we haven’t even gotten to Meryl Streep’s villainous role as high-ranking government official Corrine Whitman, who secretly oversees the unconstitutional interrogation.

Given this convoluted plot, one can immediately notice this is writer Kelley Sane’s first major film. The film’s finale resolves almost nothing, and not much changes, despite the multiplying plot threads, between the opening credits and the film’s vexing ending. Unfortunately, a far greater offense lies in the film’s own hypocrisy. Trying desperately to construe something socially and politically relevant, "Rendition" ultimately renders itself moot with its failure to draw parallels to something concrete, like a legitimate example of the illegal torture in question.

With this headline topic, the film tries desperately to teach us a lesson about foreign policy and excessive aggression toward terrorist suspects, but it succeeds only in pointing out that the U.S. government is abusing its constitutional powers. But whether one agrees with this or not, "Rendition" is so artificially dramatized that one cannot put much stock in its depiction of outrageous U.S. policies. Eschewing any form of class or stylistic filmmaking, the film avoids metaphors or analogies and states its case upfront in a manner that makes the whole subject of the film very easy to write off as Hollywood didacticism.

Despite its straightforward approach, "Rendition" never discloses which country the terrorist attack occurs in. We only know that it is in northern Africa, which seems to be a cop out. Why not just say what they clearly mean and set the attack in the Middle East or the interrogation at Guantanamo Bay?

There are, however, two quips said by Streep’s steely character that, in their context, make a clever statement about supposed government practices. While on the phone with the shaken CIA analyst witnessing the torture of the suspect, she calmly states, "The United States does not torture." In another scene, Streep and a character who is investigating Anwar’s disappearance exchange restrained arguments over the validity of the U.S. Constitution versus the Sept. 11 Commission Report. With the added touch of a deadpan sense of humor, these two exchanges alone say more about the controversy surrounding current U.S. policies than the rest of the film manages to dictate in two hours.

Where the other actors are concerned, they usually serve as a testament to the fact that even a good actor cannot master a poor script. All three of the leads — Gyllenhaal, Witherspoon and Streep — despite having more screen presence than virtually anyone else, accomplish almost nothing throughout the film. Gyllenhaal, though he is constantly onscreen, seems to have no actual function in the story until about the last 15 minutes of the movie.

It seems likely that the turbulent state of world affairs will continue to serve as an impetus for Hollywood to write these fumbling political thrillers, but, if they are to be at all effective, they must present an argument that is coherent and important. Using the cinema to shake a finger at the government with sensationalized, black-and-white stories will accomplish nothing, and "Rendition" does just that.

1 1/2 stars out of 5