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Spike Lee has never been afraid of controversy or known for his consistency. Since "25th Hour" was a masterpiece of restrained filmmaking, it was inevitable that Spike Lee’s follow up would be disappointing and schizophrenic.

"She Hate Me" is certainly not a date movie. The tagline should have warned me: "One heterosexual male. Eighteen lesbians. His fee: 10 000 $… each."

We’re not talking about artificial insemination either, but rather about a whole lot of sex that’s likely to achieve the impossible: offend lesbians and Presbyterians at the same time.

"She Hate Me" starts well, with a title sequence featuring George Bush on the centre of a three-dollar note. Jack Armstrong (Anthony Mackie) is the VP of Progea, a multinational corporation working on the cure for HIV, and Ellen Barkin has a glorious cameo as his boss, proclaiming that the American public are a bunch of morons who will believe whatever they are told.

Armstrong is not your typical American, however, as he discovers high-level corruption within Progea, and blows the whistle. As a result, not only does he lose his job, his former bosses frame him for the very corruption he fought against. Unemployable and with a court case looming, Armstrong is desperate for money, and becomes involved in the lucrative business of impregnating lesbians the old-fashioned way.

The movie falls apart in time with Armstrong’s life. Not content with dealing with Dubya, corporate greed, the gullibility of the American public and the lesbian desire for motherhood, Lee also manages to preach about HIV, third world poverty, black culture, The Mafia and Watergate.

Not only is the script unfocused, but the camera is too, sometimes deliberately blurring but also strangely soft-focused in many scenes. This is also a long movie, weighing in at a hefty 138 minutes.

It’s partly saved by the usual great dialogue, thought-provoking concepts and the stellar performances we’ve come to expect from Spike Lee movies, particularly from Mackie in the lead role and John Turturro, Monica Bellucci and Woody Harrelson in cameos.

Even when he’s off-form, like he is here, Spike Lee is still more interesting than most American directors. There are diamonds in "She Hate Me", but you have to wade through a sewer to find them.