THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY OF PHIL SPECTOR

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As unintentionally hilarious as its goofy structure, Vikram Jayanti's documentary about mad musical genius Phil Spector is as entertaining as it is frustrating. Jayanti underscores archival footage of performances of Spector-produced hits with bathetic subtitled commentary that could have been pulled out of the script for "American Psycho."

As the Crystals sing "Da Doo Ron Ron," we're informed that the song represents "a gust of sheer joy." As laughable as Jayanti's liner-note editorializing is the filmmaker's brutarian habit of underscoring courtroom footage from Spector's first trial (which ended in a mistrial) for the 2003 murder of actress Lana Clarkson with songs like "He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss)."

A sizeable amount of the film revolves around one-on-one interview footage shot inside Spector's plush mansion. For his big close-ups Spector reveals himself to be a compulsive liar--listen to him laugh about having his "hair done for four hours," when it's obvious that he wears wigs. And what a collection of hairpieces! Spector's relaxed reminisces about his storied musical career with artists like Tina Turner, and his long-held disdain for Tony Bennett, reveals his outsized ego.

A major complaint is that Jayanti doesn't go far enough in getting the man who compares himself to Galileo and Da Vinci to articulate his formula for creating the famed "Wall of Sound" that sent songs like "River Deep, Mountain High" into another sonic universe.

Without an official Spectorian explanation of the circumstances surrounding Lana Clarkson's death-by-pistol, the oddly edited courtroom proceedings seem to tilt toward suicide (there was allegedly no forensic evidence to support that Spector fired the pistol). However, Spector's "I-think-I-killed-somebody" confession to his driver on the night of Ms. Clarkson's death leaves little doubt that the jury that convicted Phil Spector in his second trial probably carried justice to its logical conclusion.

Not Rated. 102 mins.