Formula 51 gives you Samuel L. Jackson in a kilt, Meat Loaf as a drug kingpin with The Dude's wardrobe, and an assassin who enjoys changing accents, but it doesn't offer one reason  why. Lots of stuff goes down here just to kill time or to see how the audience will react. It's all part of Formula 51's offbeat charm, which borders on silly entertainment and is pointless most of the time. Still, you can count the moments that stand out for being outrageously weird, so it's best not to ask questions. Just let the ride take you to wherever its destination lies. 

The center to Ronny Yu's flashy, nonstop trip into the world of modern-day drug dealing is one Elmo McElroy (Jackson). A pharmocology graduate in the '70s, Elmo lost his license in the biggest mistake he ever made. Thirty years later, Elmo and his knack for alchemy are in the employ of a drug lord named The Lizard (Meat Loaf). But our hero's had enough of the man, giving him a little goodbye present before hightailing it to Liverpool, England, to orchestrate the deal of a lifetime. Elmo's latest concoction is POS 51, a drug 51 times more powerful than cocaine or any hallucinogen and made out of entirely legal ingredients. The drug's potential success gets the attention of various English hoods, including the spaced-out Iki (Rhys Ifans). But as Elmo tries to set up a deal, accompanied by American-hating guide Felix (Robert Carlyle), The Lizard re-emerges, sending out a skilled assassin (Emily Mortimer) to make sure Elmo doesn't share the drug's formula with anyone else.

How Formula 51 came to be is a story that turns out to be more interesting than the plot of the film itself. Screenwriter Stel Pavlou sent Samuel L. Jackson the script, and in a surprising move, Jackson replied and signed on to star in and executive produce the project. I can see where Jackson would enjoy making a brainless, kinetic script such as Formula 51 (known as The 51st State elsewhere). There's an energy to the picture that's undeniable. And a subplot about a group of skinheaded punks who want the formula as well, leading to a scene where Elmo fools the dudes by giving them pills that make them...well, let's just say Jeff Daniels had an easier time in Dumb and Dumber than these guys end up having. This sense of putting everything but the kitchen sink into a movie just because the filmmakers can do so is what makes Formula 51 enjoyable in a guilty pleasure, eating-a-whole-bag-of-Doritos sort of way. You know it isn't good for you, but try telling yourself that when you're scarfing the contents down in handfuls.

The appealing breeziness of Formula 51 also causes some problems. After the ending credits started to roll, I asked myself, "This was it?" 90 minutes of car chases, rave parties, guys soiling themselves, and Sam "The Man" beating up the aforementioned punks with a golf club move along nicely, so why am I thinking of other action movies and how well these scenes would have been in them? Like W.D. Richter and Buckaroo Banzai, Ronny Yu manages to craft small sections of coolness out of Formula 51, but the film itself isn't cohesive enough to include that coolness in every minute of its running time. Jackson goes for broke and ends up having a lot of fun with his role as a chemist who seems to be getting a kick out of giving all of Liverpool's criminal underworld the runaround (though near the end of the film, even he seems like he's getting a bit eager to wrap things up).

Robert Carlyle (Trainspotting) serves as a good sidekick and comic relief bundle of Yankee-hating energy. Since this is a movie that wants to be more complex than it should be, his character turns out to be the ex of Emily Mortimer's assassin, who switches American and English accents on a whim. I was a bit disappointed with Meat Loaf, though. He tries to put too much into being an over-the-top bad guy. And by letting the other antagonists take the spotlight, he's relegated to about three scenes where he swears and barks orders into a fan. Sean Pertwee (Dog Soldiers) shows up as a corrupt detective, but as the subplot is such a throwaway, he might as well be named Joe Dirty-Cop.

What is there to learn from Formula 51? Not much. Don't do drugs? Maybe. But two other lessons emerge as more important: (1) always be careful about doing business with anybody named "Iki;" and (2) remember to look before you  drink anything made by someone who might wish you harm, especially if you're a bad guy.      

MY RATING: ** (out of ****)

(Released by Screen Gems and rated "R" for strong violence, language, drug content and some sexuality.)

Review also posted on www.ajhakari.com.