...an interesting and ambitious movie that succeeds in a small way as spectacle but fails as drama
Comment
12/12/08
Dark Streets (2008)
15
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:34
Fresh:5
Rotten:29
Average Rating:3.8/10
Consensus: Dark Streets is a film noir musical that's too gimmicky for its own good.
Runtime: 84 mins
Genre: Musical & Performing Arts
Synopsis: An atmospheric film noir musical fantasy, Dark Streets tells the story of Chaz Davenport (Gabriel Mann), a dashing bachelor who owns what promises to become the hottest new nightclub in town—if... [More]
Starring: Gabriel Mann, Bijou Phillips, Izabella Miko, Elias Koteas
Director: Rachel Samuels
Reviews for Dark Streets
A collection of 1950s B-movie mannerisms that would have made for a great parody if only it were capable of laughing at its own hard-boiled absurdity.
12/12/08
Rachel Samuels' thin, affected jazz-age noir Dark Streets is worse than most, grafting an indifferent series of twists and double-crosses onto a blues-nightclub backdrop that overwhelms the foreground.
12/11/08
The roster of R&B artists heard on the soundtrack is impressive; the movie is not.
12/15/08
This charmless fantasy tries to recapture the mix of hot jazz and cold cynicism that lit up Chicago, adding a dash of punk for good measure
12/11/08
It's a lovingly souped-up incarnation of the film-noir look, contains well-staged and performed musical numbers, and has a lot of cigarettes, tough tootsies, bad guys and shadows. What it doesn't have is a story that pulls us along.
12/11/08
Top CriticDark Streets lost me early, real early, like still-adjusting-my-eyes-in-a-dark-theater early: Welcome to the blues, growls the entertainer with the mohawk and the full-length ringmaster gown.
12/12/08
There's nothing worse than a soft-boiled noir. Dashiell Hammett this is not.
12/30/08
According to its press kit, this is 'an atmospheric film noir musical fantasy,' 'a noir fever dream' and a 'blues-infused noir mystery.' If you suspect those are code words for 'pointless hooey,' you're right.
12/12/08
Even though it isn't necessarily a "good" film by most conventional critical standards, I have to admit that the sheer strangeness of the entire enterprise kept me reasonably compelled from beginning to end
12/11/08
The flimsy plot -- less a whodunit than an isn't-it-screamingly-obvious-that-that-guy-done-it! -- will have thriller fans singing the blues.
12/10/08
Time for a moratorium on film noir attempts.
12/12/08
Sophisticated elements rise above this murk - Toledo as the MC and music that is a serious contribution to the blues repertory.
12/14/08
An unwieldy combination of film noir and film musical, Dark Streets doesn't manage to be effective on either level.
12/22/08
Top CriticIf only I cared.
12/12/08
So obsessed with mimicry it’s practically a tribute band of a movie.
12/11/08
Lavishly styled but narratively lax.
12/11/08
So leaden and obvious it doesn't even work as camp.
12/11/08
A poetic, rambunctious film that shows no matter how much we see, we never see, and no matter how much things change, the more they stay the same.
12/16/08
It's like a high school play version of noir with musical numbers written by the drama teacher. In the end, these streets aren't nearly dark enough.
12/12/08
Latest News for Dark Streets
November 03, 2008:
Trailer & Poster review 
More...
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
Fresh Links
Featured
RT on YouTube
Subscribe to RT's YouTube channel and don't miss a second of our cracking video content.
RT on Twitter
Follow Rotten Tomatoes and join us as we tweet about the week's releases.
IGN RSS Feeds