After putting a sympathetic gloss on pimping in Hustle & Flow, writer/director Craig Brewer pushes more emotional hot buttons in this outrageous Deep South melodrama. Christina Ricci oozes raw sexuality as small-town nymphomaniac Rae, who's left for dead by the roadside following a wild night. She's taken in by a God-fearing former blues musician (an intense Samuel L Jackson) who decides to cure the scantily clad girl of her lasciviousness - by chaining her to his radiator for some carnal cold turkey. Evoking the ambience of 1970s exploitation films, Brewer delivers a questionable, yet surprisingly entertaining, morality tale about sex, race and the redemptive power of the blues. Although the film's serious execution doesn't really suit its lurid subject matter, the whole thing is deliciously absurd - almost every cliché-riddled scene provokes laughter rather than empathy. Juicy dialogue and a sizzling soundtrack add to the guilty pleasure, and there's strong support from singer Justin Timberlake as Rae's soldier boyfriend.

A God-fearing bluesman takes to a wild young woman who, as a victim of childhood sexual abuse, is looking everywhere for love, but never quite finding it.