master class; Art School Confidential takes a wry look at a young man desperate to be the next Picasso.(Movie review)

A hundred years ago, artists were admired as romantic rebels; now they're expected to be canny entrepreneurs. This change lies at the heart of Art School Confidential, a funny if sometimes frustrating new comedy about one young painter's desire to make it big. Cheerfully cynical, it's a bit like an art-world version of Survivor.

Max Minghella stars as Jerome, a shy suburban teen who dreams of being the World's Greatest Artist, just like his hero Pablo Picasso. But enrolling in art college, he discovers that the road to fame is strewn with broken glass. His fellow students are careerists and clowns; his professors are disaffected has-beens (including a deliciously slithery John Malkovich). As for Jerome, he finds it hard to concentrate on making great art-is it possible he's not a genius? Obsessed with finding a muse, he develops a massive crush on Audrey (Sophia Myles), a wised-up artist's model, but she's drawn to his handsome, jockish rival, Jonah (Matt Keeslar), who wows the class with his naive paintings of cars. Things take a more sinister turn when the school starts being menaced by a series of murders. Will Jerome somehow exploit these crimes to ...