Ansel (Leland Orser) is a failed expert on cults, once widely regarded for his books and television show and his ability to "deprogram" those brainwashed by cult leaders, but now - after a spectacular failure - he is barely making it through the day by selling another, shoddier book and giving "seminars" at dumpy hotels in return for a room and a meal. When an older couple approaches him to ask for his help in restoring their cult-taken daughter Claire (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), he reluctantly agrees, only because his former manager is hounding him for a rather large sum of money that Ansel owes. With some help, he kidnaps Claire and begins the process of deprogramming her in an anonymous hotel room, but it soon becomes unclear as to who is treating whom....
This is kind of a strange movie, neither fish nor fowl as they used to say; in some parts, it's quite funny and absurdist, and in other parts, it's deadly serious. Unfortunately, the two aspects of the film never quite jelled for me. The acting is fine throughout (though it's odd that the IMDb doesn't name the actor playing Claire's father!) and the sort of quietly desperate, slightly sleazy world which the characters inhabit is shown well, but I was left scratching my head at the end of it, going "huh?" A bit disappointing, really.
