In the news release material for Indecent Proposal, screenwriter Amy Holden Jones says that her script deals with "the value of love and the endurance of love in the face of temptation and over a period of time."

Ahh . . . incoherent insight from the woman who scripted Beethoven, a film that, in comparison, showed more love for a dog than David and Diana Murphy in Indecent Proposal show for each other.

Maybe I'm just clueless on this whole "love" thing. Maybe I've been walking around in a fog for the last 20 years. Yet for a "love story," Indecent Proposal seems to lack that very important ingredient. There's plenty of fancy camera work and decorative sets, but director Adrian Lyne (Fatal Attraction) seemed to forget about presenting characters that embody the whole "love" thing.

The film stars Demi Moore (Diana) and Woody Harrelson (David) as the young couple whose marriage seems to be based on gymnastic sex more than anything else. After being hit hard by the recession, the couple travels to Las Vegas in hopes of drowning out their troubles under the Nevada moon.

Hit by gambling fever and left broke, the couple is approached by suave billionaire John Gage (Robert Redford), who offers them a million dollars for one night with Diana. After the kind of quick consideration you expect when shopping for fabric softeners, the couple take up Gage's offer only to see their marriage fall apart because of it.

Up to a point, the film remains a bearable, yet empty, exercise in style. Lyne is a great visual director but always seems to fail on a personal level. It doesn't help that he shoots love scenes with the romantic fervor of a Jovan Musk commercial.

Yet midway through the film, Moore indeed falls for Redford, leaving Harrelson in despair and plotting to get her back. Since Harrelson is as thick as a 2-by-4 and Redford's character is painted in angelic strokes, the film cheats itself -- why should Moore go back to a difficult life with Harrelson rather than a comfortable one with Redford?

The answer should be love. Yet the film hasn't shown us anything resembling true love between the characters on an emotional level. By the film's end, Indecent Proposal wants to say that love can't be bought, yet for two hours it proves otherwise.