Robert De Niro, left, plays a parole officer who has to contend with a wily inmate (Edward Norton) in Stone. (Maple Pictures)Robert De Niro, left, plays a parole officer who has to contend with a wily inmate (Edward Norton) in Stone. (Maple Pictures)

Robert De Niro has appeared in so many lame cop flicks and Fockers-related spinoffs over the past decade, it's cause for mild celebration when he makes an effort to stretch out. His performance in Stone won't make anyone forget Taxi Driver or Raging Bull, but thankfully he turns off the auto-pilot button for an extended period.

The noir-inspired plot is highly improbable, but it's fun to watch Norton and De Niro square off in an elaborate cat-and-mouse game.

De Niro's character, Jack Mabry, is a Michigan parole officer on the cusp of retirement. He simply wants to close his case files before drifting off into the sunset. One of those final assignments is convicted arsonist Gerald (Stone) Creeson (Edward Norton), who is so desperate to be released that he asks his free-spirited wife, Lucetta (Milla Jovovich), to seduce Mabry.

The noir-inspired plot is highly improbable. Still, it's fun to watch Norton and De Niro square off in an elaborate cat-and-mouse game, and their one-on-one scenes in Mabry's office form the spine of the narrative.

Norton delivers a highly stylized performance, sporting cornrows and sounding like a raspy Eminem. The verbally dexterous Stone represents another addition to Norton's gallery of psychologically troubled characters, which includes the racist Derek Vinyard in American History X and the killer Aaron in Primal Fear. Like De Niro, Norton's recent roles haven't captivated audiences like his early outings, but here he returns to full-on creepy mode, and it produces some chilling moments.

De Niro has the less showy role – Mabry is an inexpressive rage-aholic who attends church with his long-suffering wife (Frances Conroy) despite having lost his religious faith. As he sinks deeper into a state of moral turmoil and self-loathing, Stone goes on a spiritual odyssey of his own and unexpectedly achieves something akin to a state of grace.

Stone is a fascinating dance between a pair of screen titans, but their performances overwhelm the rest of the movie. Director John Curran seems so intent on shooting extreme close-ups of his stars that he forgets to surround them with any useful support mechanisms. At times, it feels as if Angus MacLachlan's screenplay would work better on the stage, focusing only on the two main characters and eliminating the one-dimensional female roles. Jovovich oozes sensuality and holds her own in numerous scenes with De Niro and Norton, but the motivation behind her loyalty to Stone is never made clear.

Back in 2001, De Niro and Norton teamed up in The Score, a mediocre heist movie shot in Montreal that is remembered primarily for being Marlon Brando's last film. The two actors fare much better in Stone. One hopes that if they get together a third time, it'll be in a movie that's more persuasive than this.

Stone opens on Oct. 15.

Greig Dymond writes about the arts for CBC News.