IOWA The way in which crystal meth takes over small towns throughout the Midwest is matched only by Wal-Mart. After a trip back home, Iowa native Matt Farnsworth decided to make a film about it, and so comes Iowa, written and directed by Farnsworth and starring himself and his wife, Donna Huffman, as a young couple caught up in the drug trade, turning from using to dealing with alarming speed as they leave behind any vestiges of their former lives. But just because the filmmakers have their roots in the Midwest doesn't give them a pass when it comes to their stereotypical rendition of small-town people and ways, chock-a-block with sadistic cops, shotgun-toting locals, and strippers from up in Des Moines. As director, Farnsworth lets tricky visuals run roughshod over dramatic unity, while as a performer, his lack of screen presence makes him seem sullen and uninterested instead of darkly charismatic. The cast is rounded out by veterans Jon Savage, Michael T. Weiss and Rosanna Arquette, who has recently made frequent mention of the lack of roles for women of a certain age. If this is the best part she can find, as Farnsworth's treacherous mother, clad in a series of skimpy leopard prints and forced to sell such lines as "Take me, Don Juan," things are even worse than she has let on. (Sunset 5) (Mark Olsen)

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