So far, Kevin Spacey has had only one chance to make his mark as a director, and if this effort is any indication, the future looks grim. In concept, Albino Alligator is a promising endeavor: The story, in which three crooks find themselves holed up in an after-hours bar with five hostages, recalls classic American film noir like Key Largo, and combines it with a contemporary take on violence and loyalty. What's more, Spacey has assembled a great cast which he uses efficiently to milk the material for all it's worth. But that material is booby-trapped with clichés on one side and embarrassing artistic pretensions on the other: Christian Forte's screenplay sets up some potentially interesting relationships, but then relies on mechanical plot twists to reveal them; the movie aims for moral complexity and comes up with garden-variety cynicism. Albino Alligator has a good look to it, and many one-on-one scenes work well. But the ensemble chemistry needed for a claustrophobic hostage drama never materializes; neither Forte nor Spacey are willing to humanize their film to that extent. If they had been, the violent final reel would be hard to take, but it might also mean something.