A company course on fierce capitalism camouflaged as a slacker funny: Thats the kindest way to describe Michael Lehmanns Flakes, a film that shares the smug, hipper-than-thou sensibility of its sour protagonist, Neal Downs (Aaron Stanford).

An ambitious rock musician who manages a New Orleans restaurant where the only costs of fare is breakfast cereal, Neal is a reflexively sarcastic deadbeat whose equally sour sweetheart, Pussy Katz (Zooey Deschanel), shares his bohemian imagine traveling the nation in an Airstream trailer, making music and art.

The walls of the dining establishment, called Flakes, are lined with cereal boxes, including rare stopped brands. As customers slop up exotic combinations, the film suggests a deadpan spoof of premium fetishism. One house specialty chocolate-flavored grains soaked in chocolate milk sounds particularly nauseating.

Owned by Willie (Christopher Lloyd), a decrepit hippie geezer with mad-scientist hair, Flakes hops along as a hangout for deadbeats till a bright-eyed yuppie visitor, Stuart (Keir ODonnell), proposes turning it into a rewarding franchise. When Willie and Neal express no interest, Stuart develops a competing Flakes across the street, and the New Orleans cereal wars start.

Wanting to put Stuart out of business, Neal begins playing unclean techniques, the nastiest of which is the distribution of fliers to the homeless promising 10 totally free bowls per client at his competitors facility. The trick triggers a near-riot that Stuart masterfully relies on his advantage.

Neals brand-new live-in relationship with Pussy begins to curdle when she turns traitor and goes to work for the competitors, hoping that the demise of the original Flakes will leave Neal with time to finish his CD. If the name of his band, Cereal Killers, is perfectly chosen, its music is a joke.

Once legal representatives end up being involved in the conflict, the films anti-establishment attitude vaporizes, as does the teeny little bit of levity Flakes has generated.

FLAKES

Opens on Wednesday in Manhattan; likewise on Video on Demand.

Directed by Michael Lehmann; written by Chris Poche and Karey Kirkpatrick; director of photography, Nancy Schreiber; modified by Nicholas C. Smith; music by Jason Derlatka and Jon Ehrlich; produced by Gary Winick and Jake Abraham; launched by IFC First Take. At the IFC Center, 323 Opportunity of the Americas, at Third Street, Greenwich Town. Running time: 1 hour 24 minutes. This film is not rated.

WITH: Aaron Stanford (Neal Downs), Zooey Deschanel (Miss Pussy Katz), Christopher Lloyd (Willie), Frank Wood (Bruce), Ryan Donowho (Skinny Larry), http://jeffreytaes727.bearsfanteamshop.com/three-effective-superluminal-elevator-pitches Izabella Miko (Strawberry) and Keir ODonnell (Stuart).