Movie Review

Slow Burn (2007)

Reviewed by Scott Brown | Apr 18, 2007

Scott Brown

Scott Brown writes the Hit List for EW and is a frequent contributor to National Public Radio -- he has the tote bag to prove it

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EW's GRADE

C+

Details Release Date: Apr 13, 2007; Rated: R; Genres: Drama, Thriller; With: Ray Liotta and LL Cool J

Image credit: Philippe Bosse

NOT SO BUBBLY James Todd Smith (a.k.a. LL Cool J) and Mekhi Phifer in the flat neo-noir Slow Burn

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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.''

Originally posted Apr 18, 2007 Published in issue #931-932 Apr 27, 2007 Order article reprints

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