Stars in Shorts | Movie review

Say what you will about this collection of less-than-feature-length films: There’s truth in its advertising. The sketch-like movies here are indeed shorts, and stars, from Kenneth Branagh metaphorically twirling his mustache in the sci-fi–inflected “Prodigal” to Julia Stiles ranting directly to the camera in Neil LaBute’s “Sexting,” do lend their presence. Two stand out: “Steve” focuses a pitiless eye on a socially awkward downstairs neighbor (Colin Firth) who begins aggressively stalking an inexplicably Scottish-accented Keira Knightley. “After School Special” watches single parents Sarah Paulson and Wes Bentley chatting at an indoor playground; also written by LaBute, it boasts the playwright’s darkest punch line to date, which is saying something. Everything else feels, ironically, interminable.