BY GLENN WHIPP >FILM CRITIC

"Let It Ride" meets "Leaving Las Vegas" in this seriocomic tale about gambling-addictive, alcoholic TV writer (Matthew Broderick) looking for his trick-turning niece (Brittany Snow) in Sin City.

Writer-director Peter Tolan has glibness down pat, but can't quite wring the intended pathos from his characters' desperate lives. He does, however, give Broderick his best part since "Election," though at this point, the guy could play crestfallen sad sacks in his sleep.

Bueller? Are you out there? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller …?

>Glenn Whipp

review>

FINDING AMANDA

>R: Strong sexual content, language.

>Playing: Laemmle's Town Center 5 in Encino; Laemmle's Playhouse 7 in Pasadena; The Landmark in West Los Angeles; Laemmle's Sunset 5 in West Hollywood.