A sometimes quick-witted parody of art-school mentality, wherein students who believe they are all that, as they say, are in fact not much, "Art School Confidential" soars at times, while falling short of its potential.

Max Minghella plays Jerome, an admirer of Picasso, who seeks to change the world with his art. Jerome enrolls in a small East Coast art school, where he meets a parade of posers with little talent, and that includes the teachers as well as the students.

Jerome falls for the beautiful fellow student Audrey (Sophie Myles), but despite her appreciation for Jerome's work, she's more interested in handsome hunk-artist Jonah (Matt Keeslar). If this wasn't enough of a setback for Jerome, his decent art fails to attract attention, as the students are more interested in bizarre and experimental work, most of it clearly awful. Jerome finds a little solace in the advice of his teachers, played by John Malkovich, Jim Broadbent and Anjelica Huston.

And did we mention there is a serial killer loose on campus, adding a subplot?

"Art School Confidential" is a sometimes wicked but perhaps too busy send-up of artsy snobbery. The film enjoys creative juice, directed by Terry Zwigoff and written by Daniel Clowes, the duo that delivered the amazing and resonant teen-story "Ghost World" a few years ago.

"Art School Confidential" doesn't have that kind of quiet pop and zing, but does manage to take a decent comic swing at the most pretentious of the art-school crowd, people whose strange and annoying behavior trumps talent. And that jab can't be such a bad thing.