HAL ASHBY'S NEWEST FILM, Lookin' to Get Out, is framed by illusion As flashy neon titles appear in the opening sequence, two brightly dressed magicians work their chichi miracles on a glittery Las Vegas stage. The closing credits roll over a juggler trying in vain to make something of a very state routine.

The real juggler behind all this is Ashby himself Abetted by his screenwriters (AI Schmaltz and star Jon Voight), he has concocted a rather simple story about an unlucky gambler who run off to Vegas, chasing a dream, and being chased by two New York thugs The problems arise when Schmaltz and Voight try to justify their hackneyed plot by throwing in a number of complex issues: illusion, self-destruction, friendship, loyalty, and fatherhood. And they try to squeeze all this into a comedy format. As a result, none of these admittedly interesting themes is explored fully, nor are they ever taken seriously enough either to touch the audience or to evoke laughter.

Like Atlantic City. Louis Malle's brilliant expose of dreamers out to make the "big score" in the casino, Lookin' To Get Out takes a low-key, matter-of-fact approach to its subject. Malle used very simple camera angles and clear shots, and never allowed his stars to throw in any histrionics into their understated performances. He had no pretensions about his film, but simply let John Guare's excellent screenplay work itself out before the camera. Ashby, however, can't afford the luxury of sitting back in his director's chair. But the script for Lookin' To Get Out needs help Ashby seems unable to give.

The film follows Alex (Voight), a slick and very nervous man with an obsession for poker chips Like all compulsive gamblers, Alex plays to lose, 20 minutes into the movie, he has won 59,000 and lost 519,000 Under pressure to repay the 510,000 he borrowed to stay in the poker game, Alex skips town with his friend Jerry (Burt Young) and heads for Vegas, the Lind of silk and money.

Alex is so obsessed with the dream of striking it rich that he can't see how he harms those around him. He treats people like poker chips. more tools in his various plans After a six-year separation, he meets old flame Patti (Ann-Margaret) in Vegas, and automatically decides to use her as a cover for his harebrained scheme to break the bank.

when she mentions her five-year-old daughter, he dodges the issue, afraid that she will tell him he's the girl's father. In one scene, Patti and Jerry are watching an elaborate floor show when Alex comes by and drags Jerry away on "business." As Patti watches them leave, a magician on stage saws a woman in half. The implication is clear, and as subtle as anything else this movie offers: through his insensitivity, Alex has cut into Patti many times.

ASHBY NEVER EXPLORES Alex's payche further, Throughout the film, Alex never speaks a sincers line of dialogue. Neither the audience nor the other characters know much about him. It appears that the screenwriters were afraid that an honest exploration of character would detract from the film's lighthearted nature. And so we're left with a hero who is more a laughable caricature than a real human being.

Voight makes up for his shortcomings as a screenwriter by delivering a very vibrant performance. He takes the rather stereotypical Alex of the script and somehow elevates him to a level of credibility. Voight tempers Alex's overbearing enthusiasm and self-absorption with a subtle vulnerability. The softness of his eyes and the nervous twitches of his hyperglycemic body reveal Voight's talents as an actor, if not screenwriter.

Burt Young also manages to everyone the limits of the script to portray Jerry as a sensitive, almost childlike, individual, not merely the bumbling sidekick of the fast-talking Alex. As Patti, however, Ann-Margaret is listless; she seems to have given up on trying to inject any energy into here role. Of course, the script never gives her a chance: Patti's character is merely a contrivance of the plot--an extra ingredient thrown into the stew to provide an attractive diversion from the rather bland main course.

These characters are all placed against the backdrop of a land of illusion and decadence. Alex and Jerry check into the Dr. Zhivago suite at the MGM Grand, complete with sunken bathtub, a mirror over the bed, and a doorbell that plays the theme from the film which gives the room its name. This is Las Vegas in all its tacky splendor, a world which no one in the films seems to take seriously.

The grand illusion of Lookin' To Get Out, of course, is Alex's belief that he can beat the house. The film treat us once again to the tired theme of self-destruction: all gamblers really want to lose. But even this apparently simplistic theme is not developed quite as well as it should be. Ashby simply lets his actors wander around aimlessly. He does nothing to create the mood that the film's themes demand.

It's almost impossible to become emotional about this movie. Lookin' To Get Out shies away from engaging the audience, always keeping us at a distance. Because it provides no explicit answers and only half-baked questions, we are forced to read things into it that may or may not be there. The audience guesses that Alex is an insecure dreamer; but in the context of the film itself-in the world according to Hal Ashby-we have very little basis for this judgement. Lookin' To Get Our leaves us feeling empty, wanting a great deal more than this film has to give. But like the slot machines of Las Vegas, it rarely pays off.