The Mentor

A lack of suspense helps sink this middling thriller from Goldberg (Slow Down). William Lansing, a professor at Connecticut’s Bentley College, is excited to learn that a former student of his, Kyle Broder, is now an editor at a New York publishing house and has just signed a lucrative contract with a debut novelist. William has been laboring for years over his own novel, which he hopes his protégé will publish. When Kyle rejects the manuscript, which is full of torture and cannibalistic fantasies, William turns on Kyle and others in Kyle’s life. Unsurprisingly, it turns out that details of the manuscript reflect events that occurred in William’s and Kyle’s past. William is a stock psychopath, and Kyle comes across as a crass fool. For no clear reason, Kyle’s girlfriend insists that he finish reading William’s manuscript even after he tells her about the unpleasant subject matter. That these unlikable characters do nonsensical things presents another obstacle to enjoyment. [em]Agent: Sam Hiyate, Rights Factory (Canada). (June) [/em]