David Arquette is a young and naive home security alarmsalesman taken under the wing of Stanley Tucci. Arquette is agolden boy, scoring a big sale on his first call- to widow KateCapshaw and her dopey son Ryan Reynolds. Things are goingwell for Arquette, he is appearing in commercials for the securityfirm and he is falling in love with Capshaw.Then Tucci and his right hand woman Mary McCormack let him inon a little secret- they sometimes break into the houses of theirclients in order to scare them and to get their neighbors to buysecurity systems from the firm. Arquette decides not to getinvolved, taking Capshaw to meet his family, and going through lifewith a goofy smile on his face. Then, someone breaks intoCapshaw's home and murders her and her son. Arquette suspects Tucci, and sets a series of traps, resulting in a gun to hisboss' head as Tucci pleads his innocence.Based on a stage play, "The Alarmist" is not opened up well. Thescenes where Arquette takes the Capshaw to meet his parentsare badly played and completely unfunny. They are also out of linewith the character Capshaw is playing, as she gets drunk and tellssexually explicit stories to Arquette's mom Michael Learned. Otherthan these scenes, Capshaw is not given much to do, but shedoes a lot with the little she is given.Stanley Tucci, looking just like Terry O'Quinn, is a riot as thesecurity firm owner. He is a creep who really does not understandArquette's moral revulsion. However, when he turns into asniveling whiner after Arquette kidnaps him, he is hilarious. MaryMcCormack seems to have been groomed for a bigger role, butshe mostly stands around and agrees with Tucci. Ryan Reynoldsis too old to play a dumb teenager, but he is funny, especiallytelling his own explicit sexual story to Arquette.The screenplay lurches from romantic comedy to dark comedy toosoon. Capshaw meeting the parents is completely unmotivated,except to give her a reason to get out of town so someone canbreak into her house. Capshaw and Reynolds are in the film justto give Arquette a reason to take revenge on Tucci.Arquette, who has proven he is a good actor, is awful here. Herelies on the constipated mugging that got him through thoseATT ads, and he is not a strong enough presence to build thisweak film around. Actually, Reynolds might have been a betterchoice in the role.Dunsky's direction is good, nothing that will win an Oscar soon.Christophe Beck's light jazzy score recalls the type of film noir thisfilm tries to be, and it is really catchy on top of that.Despite the pluses, Arquette's failure as a lead and the script'sschizophrenic quality sinks the film. I do not recommend it.This is rated (R) for physical violence, gun violence, some gore,strong profanity, brief female nudity, sexual content, strong sexualreferences, and adult situations.