That most wonderful of films, the kind that works on every level, but can't be easily pigeonholed.
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12/30/06
Shadowboxer (2006)
20
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:56
Fresh:11
Rotten:45
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
Genre: Dramas
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... [More]
Starring: Cuba Gooding, Helen Mirren, Vanessa Ferlito, Macy Gray
Director: Lee Daniels
Reviews for Shadowboxer
...never quite becomes anything more than a mildly diverting thriller...
10/02/05
This is a sick flick. Sick, but satisfying.
07/20/06
An envelope-pushing melodrama just this side of 'Pulp Fiction' parody.
07/05/06
a pleasant surprise
07/21/06
"Mr. and Mrs. Smith" in an altered consciousness--one that'll bring arthouse habituees to attention, if not to their feet, out of respect for courage and originality.
03/05/06
A layer cake of weird and wild images married to a plot that's lurid, ludicrous and bizarrely hypnotic.
07/20/06
At worst, Lee Daniels is a poor man's Quentin Tarantino, both literally and figuratively. And that's not a bad thing; just ask Guy Ritchie.
07/21/06
Shadowboxer admirably jostles and upends the fatigued killer-for-hire genre.
07/18/06
Top CriticBilled as film noir, but because it lacks any subtlety and accentuates gratuitous violence that is more in-your-face than it is implied, the movie is about as noir-ish as Rocky.
07/21/06
This daring film may not completely hold together, but it has a bracing, off-kilter sensibility -- a mixture of mordant humor and melancholy -- that mostly compensates for the occasional lulls and clunky, obvious moments.
07/21/06
The artificially staged and lush visuals are at such odds with the reserved, subtle performances that you'll wish director Lee Daniels had done away with the pretense and just pointed the camera at the actors and yelled 'Action!'
07/20/06
Aaron Spelling may be slapping his forehead, but a few cemetary plots over, 1950's melodrama king Douglas Sirk is smiling.
02/01/09
...overheated, rarely convincing crime drama.
07/20/06
"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
Daniels offers a lame attempt to do what Quentin Tarantino has frequently done better -- and with far more cinematic artistry.
07/28/06
Top CriticThere'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
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
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