Page 2 of 4
BROWN SUGAR As far as I'm concerned, Brown Sugar is nothing if not aptly titled, seeing as how my review for director Rick Famuyiwa's previous film, 1999's The Wood, dismissed it as "a movie so light and sugary that it could easily be mistaken for an artificial sweetener." His follow-up feature is equally as saccharine, a predictable romantic comedy about two lifelong best friends, music business executive Dre (Taye Diggs) and music magazine editor Sidney (Sanaa Lathan), who spend the entire movie fighting the fact that they're meant for each other. Or at least that's what Famuyiwa would have us believe, but Lathan (so terrific in Love & Basketball) and Diggs (so bland in just about everything) are never able to convince us that their characters are truly meant to be together. What's more, the movie's whole point is that these two are forever linked through their love of hip-hop, but aside from the obligatory music biz cameos and lots of lip service from the leading characters, hip-hop rarely comes alive as its own fire-breathing entity in this picture, meaning that Dre and Sidney might as well be joined together by a mutual love of pro wrestling, Alan Rudolph flicks or Pokemon trading cards. Rapper Mos Def, memorable in a small role in Monster's Ball, effortlessly steals this film in the key supporting role of a wisecracking hip-hop musician whose integrity won't allow him to sell out as an artist.
MOONLIGHT MILE It's hard to imagine anyone managing to steal a movie not only from charismatic rising star Jake Gyllenhaal (The Good Girl, Donnie Darko) but also from accomplished Oscar winners Susan Sarandon, Dustin Hoffman and Holly Hunter, yet newcomer Ellen Pompeo pulls off the feat with aplomb. She's one of the main reasons to see Moonlight Mile, a highly likable if somewhat calculated melodrama partly inspired by an incident in writer-director Brad Silberling's life. Silberling, who was dating actress Rebecca Schaeffer (TV's My Sister Sam) when she was murdered back in 1989, has taken that tragedy as the basis for this film about a young man (Gyllenhaal) who, after the senseless slaying of his fiancee, moves into the home of her parents (Sarandon and Hoffman) so they can retain a connection with their daughter. Hiding his own secret regarding his relationship with the bride-to-be, he finds his emotions becoming even more tangled once he falls for a local bar owner (Pompeo) working through her own personal pain. A few plot developments seem extraneous and certain conclusions feel too glib, but overall, this is a moving and occasionally insightful study of how individuals learn to cope with loss and grief in their own idiosyncratic manner. Hunter has little to do as a prosecuting attorney, but Sarandon and Hoffman haven't been this interesting to watch in years, while Gyllenhaal gets to show more emotion here than in his previous roles. Still, the big story here is Pompeo, a striking newcomer who will get to build on this early promise with upcoming roles in Daredevil and Speilberg's Catch Me If You Can.
RED DRAGON Manhunter, the 1986 adaptation of Thomas Harris' novel Red Dragon (and the first film to bring Hannibal Lecter to the screen), was directed by Michael Mann, a master visualist whose works (The Last of the Mohicans, The Insider) almost always shimmer with tasteful artistry. Red Dragon, on the other hand, is helmed by Brett Ratner, a more commercially mindful filmmaker whose past efforts (the Rush Hour pair, The Family Man) have exposed him as the sort of director who churns out product without bothering to give it his own distinct stamp. That Manhunter should remain the better movie should surprise no one, and yet, the contest is a lot closer than it would appear at first glance. Red Dragon works on its own terms, thanks largely to the efforts of scripter Ted Tally (who won an Oscar for The Silence of the Lambs) and a dream cast that makes the most of the material. Anthony Hopkins, of course, is the star attraction, essaying the role of Hannibal for the third time. Set before the excellent Silence and the execrable Hannibal, this one begins with the good doctor being captured by FBI agent Will Graham (Edward Norton), who promptly retires from the bureau until he's asked to help track down a serial killer (Ralph Fiennes) who's been carving up entire families. Graham needs help tracking down this madman, and he's soon forced to seek advice from his old nemesis, the unflappable Hannibal. Hopkins' Lecter has lost much of his menace over the years, but he's still enjoyable to watch, as is the rest of this sharp thriller.