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NOT SO BUBBLY James Todd Smith (a.k.a. LL Cool J) and Mekhi Phifer in the flat neo-noir Slow Burn
Philippe Bosse
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Scott Brown
Scott Brown is a senior writer for EW and a frequent contributor to National Public Radio -- he has the tote bag to prove it
A strange, sprained, but sprightly fusion of The Usual Suspects and the Tragic Mulatto, Slow Burn wants badly to turn its standard neo-noir into a nuanced racial chiaroscuro. A big-shot district attorney (Ray Liotta) is closing in on a shadowy inner-city crime lord, but his biracial star prosecutor (Star Trek: Enterprise's Jolene Blalock) may be dirty. While the twists arrive with deadening regularity, the only mystery writer-director Wayne Beach really fixates on is his femme fatale's racial profile — first it's fetishized, then lazily equated with treachery, and finally reduced to a mere ''trick of light.''
Posted Apr 18, 2007
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You Might Also Like
- Movie Commentary Straight to DVD | Youyoung Lee
- Movie Review Mindhunters (May 13, 2005) | Scott Brown
- Movie Commentary The best rappers-turned-actors: LL Cool J (1999)
- Ask the Critic Which rappers have the bling-bling at the movies? | Lisa Schwarzbaum
- Movie Review Sangre de Mi Sangre (May 14, 2008) | Owen Gleiberman
- Video Review The Sixth Sense | Ty Burr
