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Review: Ask any horse-racing fan. Sometimes you can have the best bloodlines imaginable and the nag still won't run.

That's the case, alas, with "Simpatico," a movie that boasts a blue-ribbon cast but never quite finds its footing. Jeff Bridges plays a wealthy Bluegrass breeder who owns the world's most famous thoroughbred, Simpatico. For reasons that are initially — and deliberately — unclear, Bridges plans to sell the horse, which doesn't sit well with his doped-up, depressed wife (Sharon Stone). But mid-deal, Bridges gets a call from old pal Nick Nolte, now a crumpled drunk in California with a crush on a naive but honest grocery checkout clerk (Catherine Keener).

As the movie unfolds, we learn that Bridges, Nolte and Stone have a shady shared past. Something to do with fixing races and some sordid sex photos that resulted in ruining the career of a randy racing commissioner (Albert Finney) 20 years ago. Nolte still has the pictures, which supposedly explains his hold over Bridges.

The biggest pleasure in "Simpatico" is watching the pure, unadorned professionalism of the cast — especially Finney, who brings weight and sympathy to an essentially despicable character. The problem, however, is the script, which is based on a 1994 Sam Shepard play. All the stuff that Shepard routinely gets away with onstage — the vagueness, the heavy symbolism, the lack of a coherent story line — is glaringly apparent here. We're more caught up in his theme than his characters.

Granted, it's a good theme — how what we do with our past affects our present and our future. Do we flee it like Bridges, hang on to it like Nolte or let it be, like Finney?

But once that conflict is laid out for us, the movie doesn't go anywhere. It's an actor's exercise, interrupted by too many flashbacks, weakened by too much repetition. See it for the performances and, if you're so inclined, for the horses. But keep in mind that "Simpatico" never quite makes it to the winner's circle.

Oh, and one factual note: Horse lovers will no doubt be surprised that Bridges plans to present his prize stud decked out in western gear, a la Trigger, to prospective buyers. It's like having Michael Jordan pitch running shoes while dressed in a football jersey.

— Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Cox News Service