Demi Moore is both lookin’ like a brunette Barbie doll and an invader of personal space, ain’t she? Robert Redford looks like he wants to make a run for it to avoid being pummeled by Mr. Ski Cap in the middle. Speaking of Ashton Kutcher, his new film, Spread, appears to have gone over quite well at this the 25th Sundance Film Festival:

[I]t stars Ashton Kutcher as a Hollywood gigolo who makes a living by latching on, literally and figuratively, to older women. I’m not even going to try to make some joke connecting that to Kutcher’s real love life because A) I bet somebody’s already come up with a killer line about that, and B) Kutcher’s love life actually bears no relationship to this film.

Kutcher turns out to have terrific acting chops well beyond the doofus self-mockery of his TV-host and pitchman personas. His character, Rikki, is an all-American pretty boy grown worldly-wise before his years, who narrates part of the movie after the fashion of William Holden in “Sunset Boulevard.” Although that’s a definite influence it’s not a spoiler (i.e., Rikki isn’t dead). An impressive inverted triangle of gym-toned muscle but not exactly the brightest bulb in the palm tree, Rikki at first seems to have all the morals and all the insight of a great white shark. He spots a single, long-legged, pushing-40 professional woman in a nightclub (it’s Anne Heche). Confirming that she’s got a house in the Hollywood hills and a Mercedes SUV, he moves in for the kill.

As calculated as Rikki’s entire approach is — he has rules for first-night sex (not too good), for how to wake up the first morning (don’t) and for a self-scored points system that gradually ensnares the victim (cooking her dinner is good, but cooking her a bad dinner is better) — a few micrograms of his soul are still swimming around in there. Otherwise there wouldn’t be a story to tell. Mackenzie delivers that story as a blend of sex comedy, dark satire, and morality tale that recalls various aspects of “Shampoo” and “Less Than Zero” and “The Graduate,” but has a couple of nifty surprises and a poisonous sting in its tail that’s all its own.

Hey, I never said Kutcher couldn’t act. He’s just been in a lot of shitty movies. There’s a difference, you know.

More of botoxed Demi’s grab-happy hands below and Ashton posing with Anthony Kiedis.