'Bev Hills 90210' Alums in Scandal Flick

'Domino' | William Shatner | Michelle Pfeiffer | Lil' Kim

Not sure you'd see Ian Ziering and Brian Austin Green, respectively Steve and David from "Beverly Hills, 90210," ever again?

Well, they're back, sending themselves up in Tony Scott's extremely violent, often confusing new film "Domino."

The film is inspired by the life of the late Domino Harvey, a model and socialite turned bounty hunter and adventurer who was also the eldest daughter of the late British actor Laurence Harvey. He was most famously the star of "The Manchurian Candidate," but died young, at age 45, in 1973.

Domino passed away on June 27 of this year at age 35, after being found in her West Hollywood bathtub. It was recently ruled that she died from an overdose of painkillers.

"Domino," a New Line release, is sure to have people talking.

Tony Scott, brother of Ridley, is not a great director. He's responsible for some of the worst movies ever made, including "The Last Boy Scout" (Bruce Willis), "The Fan" (Robert De Niro, Ellen Barkin) and "Revenge" (Kevin Costner).

He also boasts the Tom Cruise vehicles "Top Gun" and "Days of Thunder." In short, he's no Scorsese and definitely no Spielberg.

Scott did direct "True Romance," the precursor to "Pulp Fiction" that was co-written by Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary.

"Domino" seems to be in that vein, as it is almost a Tarantino movie by blueprint, with heavy shades of Steven Soderbergh's "Traffic" and "Ocean's Eleven." If you didn't see Scott's name at the start, you'd think you'd walked into a Tarantino movie by accident.

That said, Keira Knightley — who later this fall also stars in "Pride and Prejudice" — has nothing to be embarrassed about as Domino Harvey.

Her performance is strong and courageous. She's in nearly every scene and is fearless, beautiful and memorable. The one-two punch of her fall films should catapult her into the top echelons of stardom. Look out.

There are other terrific performances in "Domino," too. Jacqueline Bissett is cast perfectly as Domino's sexy and smart mother, here named Sophie, but in real life called Paulene Stone Harvey.

This becomes a little confusing if you know the real story of Domino, because Sophie is the name of her sister. Paulene, their mother, eventually married Peter Morton, creator of the Hard Rock Café, who raised both girls as his own.

Morton is referenced in the film by another name entirely.

Mickey Rourke (in a comeback role), Christopher Walken, Delroy Lindo, Mena Suvari, Lucy Liu and M'onique Imes-Jackson each make strong impressions as well. Macy Gray puts in an appearance and gives a song, and Peter Jacobson is very good as a crooked lawyer.

If the movie is embraced by younger audiences, which could happen, Venezuelan actor Edgar Ramirez will be a breakout star. He should get himself a publicist and an American agent.

But "Domino" is not going to be for everyone. The last half is extremely violent, with just enough graphic depictions and explosions to turn off an adult audience.

It's also edited like an MTV video, fast and with endless jump cuts. Cinematographer Daniel Mindel does an excellent job of creating a Tarantino-type world that is alternately arresting and annoying.

Sometimes the lighting is so hard and the makeup so deficient that you can see things on the actor's faces even their dermatologists don't know about.

"Domino" is a confusing movie. Scott and Richard Kelly, who wrote "Donnie Darko," have improvised a plot that has a lot of holes and many invented episodes.

Including the "Beverly Hills, 90210" guys seems to be part of the invention. How amusing that is remains to be seen.

But a whole storyline about a reality show team following Domino and her bounty hunter cohorts, which I suspect was also invented, gets tiresome pretty fast.

In the end, it's Knightley who audiences will want to see in this commanding performance.

Shatner: Kelley Remark No Joke

William Shatner 's acceptance speech at Sunday's Emmy Awards raised a few eyebrows.

He implied that, despite his several awards, he really had met "Boston Legal" creator David E. Kelley only a couple of times. There was a lot of uneasy laughter when he said it.

I asked Shatner about it at the Emmy Governor's Ball later Sunday night.

"I thought it was openly known," he told me. "He's a recluse. He likes to be in his room writing. I've hardly met him, maybe just twice."

Was Shatner surprised, I asked, to have this career renaissance after life as Captain Kirk?

"Am I surprised I have a job, you mean." he said with a laugh. "I am."

Michelle Pfeiffer's Odd Leading Man

Speaking of David Kelley, you may wonder what the heck happened to the career of his wife, Michelle Pfeiffer.

For a while, Pfeiffer was one of the biz's top actresses, with movies like "Dangerous Liaisons," "The Age of Innocence," "The Fabulous Baker Boys," "Married to the Mob" and "Dangerous Minds," among others.

She took a wrong turn around 1999 with "The Story of Us" and never quite recovered.

Now Pfeiffer is making "I Could Never Be Your Woman," and guess whom she has a lot of scenes with? Our old pal Fred Willard, maybe the funniest actor on screen.

Willard is part of Christopher Guest's repertory company and most famous for being Martin Mull's sidekick, the unforgettable Jerry Hubbard, on "Fernwood Tonight" and his lover on "Roseanne." (Don't ask.)

Anyway, there was Fred at the HBO after-party on Sunday night. Apparently he's been such a hit on the Pfeiffer movie that another scene for him and the beauteous actress has been written.

"I'm going to shoot it this week," he said. "All my scenes are with Michelle."

And think of it, Paul Rudd is supposed to be her romantic lead.

Willard is also shooting Guest's new movie, "For Your Consideration," which follows "A Mighty Wind," "Best in Show," "Waiting for Guffman" and "This Is Spinal Tap."

The only problem with Fred is that he's modest and has no decent stories about the people he's worked with. But we love him anyway. He's a Midwestern mensch, and that's an achievement.

As for Pfeiffer: It can't be that hard to find decent scripts, can it?

Lil' K im Chows Down

Yes, that was rapper Lil' Kim at Mr. Chow's on Sunday night. She was celebrating her last days of freedom before starting a prison sentence for perjury.

Mary J. Blige was one of her guests, and Elton John sat at the next table with two women. Au revoir, Kim! See you in a year!