The Coppola family has spawned quite a lot of cinematic talent, with Francis at the top of the heat. That said, the careers of his daughter Sofia and his nephew Nicolas Cage have obviously been strong as well.

Son Roman also works in film, though not at the same level of success. For his second – and last to date – feature directorial effort, we go to 2012’s A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III.

Set in the 1970s, graphic designer Charles Swan III (Charlie Sheen) gets dumped by his girlfriend Ivana (Katheryn Winnick). He reacts poorly and his life deteriorates from there.

Charles attempts to bounce back with help from his friend Kirby (Jason Schwatzman) and his manager Saul (Bill Murray). As he tries to recover, he goes through a mix of challenges.

Glimpse went through production at a time that meant it semi-echoed the life of its lead. Sheen got fired from the hit series Two and a Half Men in 2011 and went through a pretty public meltdown.

That took Sheen from successful TV star to nutbag laughingstock in need of rehabilitation. Does Glimpse offer anything that would’ve helped his career?

No, though apparently Sheen tried to confront his public image head-on, as Swan feels like a thinly-veiled version of the actor. Throw in his 2012 Anger Management TV series and Sheen used his work to depict a version of himself.

I never saw that TV show, but I can say that Glimpse offers a flawed movie. The film wants to offer a quirky view of a man’s mental state but instead becomes a self-indulgent mess.

Whether we view the film as a depiction of a fictional character or of its lead actor, Glimpse becomes too in love with its own flights of fancy. The story often branches into fantasy scenes that become flamboyant without real purpose.

Even without those, Glimpse meanders and fails to find a coherent path. It caroms from one silly sequence to another without coherence or intelligence.

At least Coppola uses his connections to assemble a strong cast. In addition to Sheen, Murray and Schwartzman, we find Patricia Arquette, Aubrey Plaza, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Dermot Mulroney, Richard Edson and Stephen Dorff.

That turns into a vastly overqualified group of actors for this project. I guess Coppola hoped their skills would overcome the movie’s inherent flaws.

They can’t, for the cast just becomes a camouflage to hide the film’s issues. Rambling and pointless, Glimpse flops.

A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The image worked well.

For the most part, sharpness succeeded. A little softness crept into some wider shots, but these instances remained minor and infrequent.

No issues with jagged edges or moiré effects materialized, and I saw no edge haloes. Print flaws remained absent.

Colors tended toward a mix of blues and ambers, with a few other tones along at times. The Blu-ray reproduced the hues as intended.

Blacks seemed deep and dense, with positive delineation to low-light shots. This turned into a solid presentation.

As for the film’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack, it used music as the most active component. The score and songs blasted from the five speakes with abandon.

Effects became a less involving aspect of the mix, though they kicked to life on occasion, such as during a car crash or various fantasies. Nonetheless, most of the soundfield lacked a lot of activity from these elements.

Audio quality satisfied, with speech that came across as crisp and concise. Effects showed appealing accuracy and range.

Music fared best, with songs/score that appeared vivid and full. The movie’s mix suited the tale.

When we go to extras, we find an audio commentary from writer/director Roman Coppola. He provides a running, screen-specific look at story/characters, cast and performances, inspirations and influences, music, sets and locations, production design, costumes and period details, and related concepts.

Overall, this becomes a pretty good commentary. Coppola covers a nice variety of domains and does so in a subdued but concise manner.

Two featurettes follow, and A Glimpse Behind the Glimpse spans 24 minutes, 54 seconds. It offers notes from Coppola, production designer Elliott Hostetter, producer Youree Henely, and actors Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Charlie Sheen, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Katheryn Winnick, and Aubrey Plaza.

“Behind” covers the film’s origins and inspirations, 1970s period details, Coppola’s work on the set, cast and performances, sets, music, costumes, and effects. “Behind” combines decent insights with a lot of happy talk.

A Glimpse Into the Mind of Charles White III goes for 12 minutes, 10 seconds. It involves artist Charles White III, the vague inspiration for the movie.

White talks about his life and career as well as how the movie reflects him. White delivers a brief but enjoyable chat.

The disc opens with ads for the Anger Management TV series, The Beaver, I Love You Phillip Morris, Case de Mi Padre and Meatballs. No trailer for Glimpse appears here.

From a director with a famous last name and with an excellent cast, A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III should knock it out of the park. Instead, the movie sputters and becomes a self-indulgent bore. The Blu-ray comes with solid visuals and audio as well as a mix of bonus materials. Don’t let all the talent involved sucker you in to a viewing of this stinker.