Hoodlum

Starring: Laurence Fishburne, Tim Roth, Vanessa Williams, Andy Garcia, Cicely Tyson, Chi McBride, Clarence Williams III, Richard Bradford, William Atherton, Loretta Devine, Queen Latifah
Directed by: Bill Duke
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
1997

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: In the 1930s, two rival gangs engage in bloody warfare to determine who runs a number racket.

Review:

Tim: I generally like gangster movies, so I was intrigued to see Hoodlum, a movie that escaped me for two decades. When I finally sat down to see it, I was fairly disappointed. I'm not that familiar with Bill Duke, but as a director, he can't be all that talented. This story was ripe for a thrilling memorable crime drama. That's not what we get here. This story should have made a strong movie, but in Duke's hands, that does not happen.

My biggest complaint is simply that the movie wasn't well made. There were multiple scenes that felt like the first time the actors had run through them. Those moments made me cringe and I felt stunned that they made it to final film. There were some awful takes here and I can't understand why Duke didn't shoot the scene again. Several of these scenes involve atrocious acting. I almost couldn't believe how bad it was at various times. This takes us completely out of the movie. Duke also delivers a film that is bloated. This is an interesting story, but there's no reason for it to clock in at 2 hours, 10 minutes. This is a movie that badly needed to be re-cut with a more narrowed focus, a more streamlined story. Duke jumps around to a large cast of characters, but he loses focus. That undermines the entire story. I spent most of this movie barely holding onto my concentration. It was surprisingly dull. I sort of cared about the characters, but not to the extent I needed to. This meandering film just kind of plods along with no real sense of momentum or urgency. Quite simply, it's not a good movie.

Laurence Fishburne did good work as Bumpy Johnson. He's such a good actor that he was able to steer his way through this. That being said, Duke didn't do him any favors. This should have been a great performance from Fishburne, but it's only serviceable. It will never be ranked anywhere near Fishburne's best performances. It's far too forgettable. He never really connects with the audience and gets us to truly invest in his character. Tim Roth has fun playing his over-the-top antagonist. He did some great things with subtlety in his performance. At times, though, he needed someone to reign him in. Roth has some of the best moments of the film, and he has some that don't work. I enjoyed Vanessa Williams here. She brought a nice change of pace to the cast. It was great to see a woman have a large role in the film. The movie is better when she gets more scenes. There's a period where she kind of disappears from the film for a bit and those scenes were less engaging. Williams might not be a great actress, but she was an absolute asset to this film. Andy Garcia did some interesting things as Lucky Luciano. He's relegated to the sidelines, though. He's clearly a smaller supporting character. His work is solid, but he never gets the chance to influence that much of the film- it's obviously not his movie. I'm a big fan of Chi McBride. His performance here was all over the place. There's times when he is truly fantastic. There's times when his performance wasn't believable in the least. The scene with the fake sweat all over him was a bit hard to swallow. It was a very uneven performance. Loretta Devine added some nice work. I am embarrassed that I didn't even recognize Queen Latifah- I guess that says something about the level of impact she makes.

I'm a bit frustrated with this movie. This is a compelling story and I wanted to learn more about those involved. I know this is a very fictionalized account, but I didn't know much about the actual events or players. I still don't feel like I know as much as I would like to. This movie had every reason to succeed. It offers a unique spin on the crime drama subgenre. It assembled a strong cast. However, the movie needed a better, more clear vision. Without that, this film is a failure. Sure, it's not terrible, but it's greatly uninspired. Gangster movies like this can be so excellent. This one isn't. Hoodlum is a wasted opportunity.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Deep Cover