The raw materials for a gutsy, gritty, fearless, fascinating thriller are here, but they amount to some intriguing individual parts and not a satisfying, cohesive whole.
Comment
08/26/07
Shadowboxer (2006)
20 %
Reviews Counted: 55 Fresh: 11 Rotten:44 Average Rating: 4/10
Consensus:
With random characters and a preposterous plot, this bizarre thriller might leave you with your mouth hanging open in disbelief.
Runtime: 1 hr 33 mins
Synopsis: Hardboiled and at times incongruous, Lee Daniels's (MONSTER'S BALL) directorial debut sets out to smash stereotypes with a noirish crime thriller about loyalty, loss, love, and guilt. Cuba Gooding Jr. (MEN OF HONOR) and Helen Mirren (CALENDAR GIRLS) star as Mikey and Rose, a pair of... [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Cuba Gooding, Helen Mirren, Vanessa Ferlito, Macy Gray, Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Reviews
This cat-and-mouse caper's Swiss cheese plotline is riddled with too many holes to consider this flick as much more than a snuff film.
07/14/07
Despite assembling a talented cast and crew, Daniels is stymied here by a script that takes itself far too seriously.
03/01/07
Mirren and Gooding are interesting -- and sexy -- to watch together. Once she leaves the film, the picture loses a bit of its uniqueness.
12/30/06
The script can't quite get a grasp on character depth, yet it also can't quite deliver the cheap thrills such a trashy tale might otherwise provide.
11/04/06
"Shadowboxer" is supposed to be concerned with how parents' lifestyles can be passed down to their children, but that is too simplistic here. The film, instead, is more a showcase of naked bodies, gory scenarios and over-the-top performances.
09/02/06
It's all so cliched in terms of personalities and full of such unbelievable situations that it's often downright laughable. And not in a good way.
08/25/06
There's no glee here, just a handful of glum characters stuck in an unending cycle of sex, violence, and heavy-handed preaching.
08/19/06
The one thing I'll say about Shadowboxer is that it's never boring. Of course, I could also say that about stepping on crushed glass.
08/07/06
Much of the movie is just too unintentionally goofy to take at face value
08/06/06
The title [is] an apt metaphor for the movie, which ultimately bobs and weaves a lot but ends up all empty air.
08/05/06
Click to read the article
08/05/06
Daniels know his way around making the viewer uncomfortable, but there's a fine line between genuine, pants-tickling eroticism and 'I can't believe I'm watching this surrounded by strangers' soft-core porn.
08/04/06
The casting seems to be an attempt to manufacture interesting characters, instead of depending on the script to do that.
08/04/06
Should you go? Not in public. But with a group of like-minded friends and the DVD, there might be circumstances under which you'd find it hilarious.
08/04/06
It ... has an insistently fussy and grandiose production design that mistakes lavish textures, brilliant colors and exotic backdrops for story atmosphere and style.
08/04/06
I'd sooner sit through 32 hours of Congressional committee testimony about imported yarn than watch Shadowboxer again.
08/04/06
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