Anti-Iraq war dramas may make their makers feel better, but they rarely make them much money. So you can understand the thinking behind keeping much mention of Iraq or war off the poster for Stop-Loss, and instead sticking the hunky young cast in vests, all smiles, atop a jeep.

But teens in search of a good time are in for a shock. Ryan Phillippe, Channing Tatum and Joseph Gordon-Levitt play soldiers returned to Texas after six months on the frontline, who start suffering from terrible flashbacks.

Phillippe remains the most sane, until he finds that his tour of duty has been involuntarily extended by a procedure known as stop-lossing. Phillippe is terrific, reprising his conflicted soldier routine from Flags of our Fathers, but Kimberly Peirce’s belated follow-up to Boys Don’t Cry (1999) suffers from a sluggish pace and a very bland love interest (Abbie Cornish).