'Art School Confidential' (R) (out of four)

Rarely has a movie so shrewdly -- and convincingly -- cast a cynical shadow over the art world and questioned the legitimacy of anyone who considers himself a highfalutin art appreciator.

Or an art critic.

"Art School Confidential" sees the whole thing as a subjective sham and poises its hero as an outsider desperately wanting to impress his teachers and those judgmental critics, only to realize they are just bitter, washed-up, and often idiotic posers.

Anyone can be a critic, the film seems to say, and usually a very bad one. And no doubt director Terry Zwigoff ("Bad Santa") would say this goes for film criticism as well -- that movie critics are merely hacks who pretend to know more than their readers.

If you're still reading this, let me assure you, I don't know more. Some film critics are preachers; I'm just a fan who is sick of being let down. And by that measure, "Art School Confidential" is refreshing in that goes against type or expectations. It's creative and surprising -- and also savagely funny.

Zwigoff is a director who continues to defy any labels with which the industry may try to saddle him. After the brilliant documentary "Crumb," about comic book artist R. Crumb, Zwigoff made "Ghost World," one of the best films of the last decade, about a world of cynical, bitter outsiders who just don't get why more people can't be like them. That was a film with some comic book sensibilities and would lead one to expect a certain kind of movie from the reclusive director. But those expectations were shattered when instead Zwigoff delivered "Bad Santa," the funniest film of 2003 and one of the most gleefully bitter and offensive projects to ever be green-lit by a major movie studio.

With "Art School Confidential," he breaks type again, proving once and for all that he'll do precisely the kind of movie he wants the way he wants, and that when you sit down for a Zwigoff film, anything is possible.

Unlike his other films, which dealt with outsiders who reveled in their outsider status, "Confidential's" Jerome (Max Minghella) doesn't want to be on the fringe. He's a suburban kid who longs to be the scruffy, passionate artist. And when he arrives at his art school, he wants to be the one getting the praise from teachers, the affections of girls and the attention from those who claim they know something about this thing called art.

It's a bizarre persona for a Zwigoff hero -- or a Daniel Clowes hero, for that matter, who drew the comic book on which the film is based -- and one that might initially be less satisfying for Zwigoff fans who might see this as a more conventional story.

But really, it's just another tool in Zwigoff's relentless assault on the world of higher art. Repeatedly, "Confidential" tears down the school's pretensions. Jerome's work -- paintings and portraits that seem quite beautiful -- are now cast aside in favor of colored triangles and absurdist blotches of color. At one point, Jerome's friend takes him aside and breaks down the clichéd art-wannabes who now sit next to them in class. And Jerome himself becomes a target of the critique, as the well-to-do white boy who will do anything to mimic those struggling artist he covets from his suburban security.

But then again, I'm just a film critic -- what do I know? If the film is committed to making any point, it's that most of the people who pretend they have art all figured out really don't. It's all a farce -- a sophisticated, dressed-up, well-spoken guise, but a farce all the same.