L.M. Kit Carson isn't a well-known figure, but over the course of his three and a half decades as a screenwriter, actor, and producer, he's racked up credits on projects as noteworthy and dissimilar as David Holzman's Diary, Bottle Rocket, Jim McBride's Breathless, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. Perhaps the only scribe ever to write for both arthouse fixture Wim Wenders and second-tier frightmaster Tobe Hooper, Carson adds Queen Of The Damned director Michael Rymer to his list of collaborators with Perfume, an Altman-esque look at the fashion industry. Of course, Altman already covered this territory with 1994's famously reviled Ready To Wear, but that hasn't prevented co-screenwriters Carson and Rymer from attempting to succeed where even Altman failed. A sprawling ensemble comedy/drama set amid the hustle and bustle of New York, Perfume follows the connected stories of conflicted fashion-world professionals. Long celebrated as the king of heroin chic, photographer Jared Harris longs to reinvent himself to save his career. Saintly gay fashion designer Paul Sorvino, meanwhile, attempts to keep his impending death a secret from his adoring husband (Peter Gallagher) and family, while upstart Leslie Mann wrestles with the consequences of parting ways with longtime professional partner Rita Wilson. Michelle Williams, Omar Epps, Sonia Braga, Carmen Electra, Harry Hamlin, and Jeff Goldblum round out the overflowing cast, but only Altman veteran Goldblum seems comfortable working within Rymer's loose, improvisational framework. Others don't fare as well, particularly the comically miscast Sorvino, whose character's impending mortality would come off as a cheap attempt at pathos even if his slippery European accent didn't cause him to say things like, "I haffa da cancer." For the most part, Perfume avoids taking cheap potshots at the fashion industry, but while Rymer's affection for his characters is admirable, the film's fuzzy belief in the life-affirming power of creating the perfect dress or photo nevertheless seems naïve and vaguely ridiculous. Perfume radiates with audacity and ambition, but those qualities alone can't compensate for its unconvincing take on the fashion world and the messy relationships lurking behind its glossy exterior.