D.W. Harper directed this 1996 feature about the infamous Charles Whitman, who climbed a Texas tower in the mid-60s and shot people at random. Screenwriter Stephen Grant (who also plays the crazed killer) updates the story to the present and tries to milk it for absurdist humor, telling it from the bemused viewpoint of the killer’s nerdish roommate. Ambitious and inventive, but unevenly acted and overextended, this will certainly hold one’s interest, despite its hit-or-miss qualities. (JR)