Nothing smacks of pretentiousness like a stage play or film in which two characters, plied by copious amounts of alcohol, spend an evening mired in verbal sparring and revelations of deep, dark secrets. It's a staple of self-important drama, and while the scenario occasionally results in absorbing works, Interview isn't among the lucky ones.

Directed and co-written by the actor Steve Buscemi, Interview is the first of three planned American remakes of films by Dutch director Theo Van Gogh, who was murdered by an Islamic terrorist in 2004. The idea is a nice homage to the gifted filmmaker, but the resulting movie is more tedious than tribute.

Buscemi plays Pierre Peders, a political journalist forced by his editor to do a "puff" piece on a famous television actress known only as Katya (Sienna Miller). Pierre resents what he considers to be a demeaning assignment, and his anger only intensifies when Katya shows up an hour late for their meeting at a posh restaurant. He hurls insults at her and lets her know that he hasn't done a stitch of preparation. Katya understandably cuts short the would-be interview.

A contrivance soon throws the pair back together. Pierre's taxi has an accident because the cabbie is busy ogling the sexy Katya as she saunters down the street. The actress, being inordinately solicitous, takes Pierre back to her studio apartment so that she can attend to a cut on his forehead.

Cue the theatrics. The mismatched pair guzzles booze, viciously rips into one another, kisses passionately and then rips into each other some more. You can't fault the actors for giving it their all. Buscemi isn't a particularly convincing political news hotshot, but he successfully conveys the character's arrogance, while Miller musters up every drop of passion she can as his moody foil.

But for what purpose? Not only are the characters intensely unlikable, they're not even particularly interesting. Worse, Interview has the stench of inauthenticity. You don't buy the meteoric speed with which the two delve into the most intimate of issues or the cat-and-mouse shenanigans that ensue. Pierre is never anything but boorish, and it defies belief that Katya wouldn't just kick him out of her place after his first two dozen insults.

I can't address the merits of the original Van Gogh film, not having seen it, but one gets the impression that the writer came up with a twist ending and then went through the most tortured contrivances to get us there.

Presented in widescreen anamorphic 1.85:1, the print transfer appears fine, even though the source material is slightly hampered by minor grain in a few of the lower-lit scenes. Otherwise, lines are sharp and blacks are rich.

The Dolby Digital 5.1 is clean and sharp, but the dialogue-heavy film doesn't give surround sound much of a challenge. Subtitles are available in English and Spanish.

Buscemi provides a reasonably informative, if arid, commentary track. As is often the case with single commentators, there are considerable patches of dead air.

Interview: Behind the Scenes (6:36) is standard promotional fare with Buscemi, Miller and co-screenwriter David Schecter. The 13-minute, 49-second Triple Theo, Take One is more compelling, as it includes interviews with Theo Van Gogh's associates and friends.

Rounding out the extras are previews for Paprika, Moliere, Youth without Youth, Angel-A, Vitus, Romance & Cigarettes, The Jane Austen Book Club, The Counterfeiters, When Did You Last See Your Father? and others.

Sienna Miller turns in an intriguing performance, but she can't quite sell Interview's central conceit here, that two venomous jerks would so quickly engage in a night of confession and treachery. Rent Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? instead.