One of the great things about films with cryptic, cumbersome titles is that viewers can usually look forward to at least one scene in which a character either utters the title or explains what it means. At least half of the pleasure to be derived from a direct-to-video mediocrity like French Exit comes from the scene in which it is conveyed that the title refers to Hollywood slang for leaving a social function without saying goodbye to anyone. Sadly, however, L.A. Rules: The Pros And Cons Of Breathing, a 1994 independent film that is only now being released on video, does its audience a disservice by never bothering to explain just what that title is supposed to mean. That quibble aside, writer/director Robert Munic's debut is a competent if unremarkable film about four underachieving L.A. types who hang around in a bar discussing the absurdities of their city and their lives as fringe players in the Hollywood game. The men represent something resembling a microcosm of L.A. society: One is an actor, another an aspiring agent, a third a struggling stand-up comedian, and the fourth an unsuccessful filmmaker. But jobs aside, they're fairly interchangeable, as they seem to be able to communicate only via a combination of pop-culture references, quips, and set-ups for quips. Every once in a while, a waitress played by a pre-semi-stardom Joey Lauren Adams stops by to deliver a quip, or a set-up for a quip, but very little happens in the way of plot or character development. With its tale of would-be Hollywood insiders who are outwardly jaded but inwardly vulnerable, Munic's film at times resembles the far superior Swingers. But while Swingers was consistently funny and surprisingly touching, L.A. Rules lacks both the strong characterizations and understated pathos that made that film so appealing.