Half of Hollywood seemed to come out for the Cannes screening of Javier Bardem’s new film "Biutiful.’ The film is a hard-to-watch Spanish-language drama from director Alejandro González Iñárritu, who last directed Babel. It’s about a single father who’s resorted to crime and then is "confronted by an old childhood friend, who is now a police officer."

Reviews are all over the map. Entertainment weekly said: "Actually, it is too depressing, but that’s not the fundamental problem with it. The problem is that none of the characters are remotely developed, so there’s not much actual drama to Uxbal’s rapidly unraveling life."

While the Hollywood Reporter felt differently, noting, "Thank goodness for Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. Were it not for the Mexican filmmaker’s ‘Biutiful,’ a lyrical gem that made a most welcome appearance early Monday morning in the Palais, this critical assessment of the Competition for the 63rd Festival de Cannes would be filled only with head-scratching."

The reviews all note how depressing the film is, and not a whole lot of them seem to feel its worth the watching. Which makes you wonder about the quality of the rest of the films at Cannes, considering how many big names showed up for the screening.