Whoopi runs a nut house wih Ryder and Jolie as residents

** out of five

"Girl, Interrupted"

Rated R for swearing fits, suicides and rebellion, you know, standard psycho ward fare

Chasing bottles of aspirin with bottles of vodka is a one way ticket to the loony bin.

So learns Susanna Kaysen (Winona Ryder) at the onset of "Girl, Interrupted," a female "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" set against a late 1960s backdrop amid the chaos of Vietnam war America. Like all head cases, Susanna is firm in her belief that she has no business being hospitalized in the company of other mental patients, even though she admits to having trouble realizing the present and she's thought to be quite promiscuous by nature. But her parents send her off and it's to the hospital we go.

Susanna is met at the gate by the nurturing Dr. Valerie (Whoopi Goldberg), who shows her around her new home away from home and introduces her to the others she will be sharing quarters with. Let's see, there's, the repressed/posh Daisy (Brittany Murphy, "Clueless"), who keeps to herself other than during her suspiciously close visits from her father; burn victim and perennial child Polly (Elizabeth Moss), whom everyone affectionately refers to as "Torch"; Susanna's roommate Georgina (Clea DuVall, "The Faculty"), who doesn't seem to have much wrong with her at all; and rebellious wild child/time bomb and lifer Lisa (Angelina Jolie, being all showy), who's just plain unpredictable and CRAZY!

Over time, the group becomes close, and a real kinship evolves between Susanna and Lisa. We see Susanna's life previous through flashbacks, including her affair with boyfriend Tobias Jacobs (Jared Leto).

But back in real time, she's making little if no progress with the hospital's Dr. Potts (Jeffrey Tambor, aka Hank "Hey Now" Kingsley) or Dr. Wick (Vanessa Redgrave), who've labeled her as having a borderline personality disorder. And it's not until she gives up her inhibitions, lets free and opens up that she becomes rehabilitated in the hospital's eyes.

Adapted from the real life memoirs of Susanna Kaysen, "Girl, Interrupted" is disappointing in its blandness and run of the mill Hollywood-ized psycho ward fare. Director James Mangold, formerly toted as the next big thing before he fell flat on his face with "Cop Land," has no flair behind the camera and no discernible style. He's a director for hire.

Any implied social commentary about the 60s or society is lost in Mangold's screenplay, which he co-authored with Kaysen. So we're left with a one dimensional and untranslatable tale that the audience is hard-pressed to take anything away from.

Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie are average in their roles, with Winona being Winona-y and Jolie going for an Oscar. But neither take any advantage of the meandering "Girl, Interrupted" and give it the spark it needs to get jump started. It's boring.