“Side Effects” is both a thriller and a scathing commentary on insider trading and the pharmaceutical industry.

This is a combination you do not see very often, but that is what you get in the new film.

Directed by Steven Soderbergh in what he is apparently calling his last turn as director, “Side Effects” will lull its audience into thinking they have it all figured out before completely shocking them on several occasions into reconsidering all that has already happened.

Rooney Mara plays Emily Taylor, a woman who has been in a deep depression ever since her husband, Martin (played by Channing Tatum) was sent to prison for insider trading.

After serving four years, Martin has just been released, but Emily’s condition appears to be worsening as she struggles to get back to the life she once shared with her husband.

After an apparent suicide attempt, Emily begins to see a psychiatrist, Jonathan Banks, played by Jude Law. This experience is nothing new to Emily, as she had gone to a psychiatrist, Victoria Siebert (Catherine Zeta-Jones), when her husband was in prison.

Banks eventually puts Emily on a new, experimental antidepressant drug, Ablixa, after the other, more-established ones do not appear to be helping.

Emily’s condition betters for the most part, except for some, you guessed it, rather adverse side effects that are much worse than anyone could have predicted.

After one particularly shocking incident that everyone believes the drug is at fault for, all the main players are in a great deal of trouble, not to mention a great deal of confusion over what really happened and what the consequences should be for those involved.

“Side Effects” is so full of twists and turns that many critics have started to compare it to the works of legendary film director Alfred Hitchcock.

Is this modern-day Hitchcock? That may be stretching it a little. We are probably never going to be lucky enough to see that type of intrigue at the movies ever again.

It is easy, though, to see why some critics and viewers are making the comparison.

This movie is a perfect example of the type of psychological thriller that just does not seem to get made much anymore in today’s world.

Hollywood does not give its audience enough credit these days. They think that all anyone wants to see are the typical full of explosions movies with no plot to speak of.

While that may be true with some people, there are still those that like to think and be involved with the movie they are watching.

One thing “Side Effects” definitely does have in common with the classic Hitchcock films, it is reminiscent of the fact that it becomes quite far-fetched as the plot begins to unravel.

No one ever accused Hitchcock of making the most realistic films out there, and this will not be the case with “Side Effects,” either, as a rather simple plot to start out with turns into something much more complicated and thought-provoking.

This is the world of movies, though. They are not always supposed to be depictions of what occurs in real life.

That is, of course, until something like this actually happens, and we wonder why we never saw it coming.

For a movie that will make you want to come back to see it again, and leave you discussing it long afterward, “Side Effects” is highly recommended.

Jordan Thiede can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].