Shadowboxer (2006)
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
| Tomatometer | Critic | Review | Category |
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 C |
Aaron Spelling may be slapping his forehead, but a few cemetary plots over, 1950's melodrama king Douglas Sirk is smiling. Full Review |
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2.5/4 |
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. Full Review |
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1/4 |
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. Full Review |
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Despite assembling a talented cast and crew, Daniels is stymied here by a script that takes itself far too seriously. Full Review |
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 4/5 |
That most wonderful of films, the kind that works on every level, but can't be easily pigeonholed. Full Review |
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2/4 |
Mirren and Gooding are interesting -- and sexy -- to watch together. Once she leaves the film, the picture loses a bit of its uniqueness. Full Review |
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2/5 |
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. Full Review |
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"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. Full Review |
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1.5/4 |
Thumbs down to a movie of such vile and violent temper. Full Review |
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1/5 |
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. Full Review |
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2/4 |
Gosh, it's almost too bad/good to be true. Full Review |
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Click to read the article Full Review |
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1.5/5 |
There's no glee here, just a handful of glum characters stuck in an unending cycle of sex, violence, and heavy-handed preaching. Full Review |
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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. Full Review |
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Much of the movie is just too unintentionally goofy to take at face value Full Review |
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D |
The title [is] an apt metaphor for the movie, which ultimately bobs and weaves a lot but ends up all empty air. Full Review |
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D+ |
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. Full Review |
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2.5/5 |
The casting seems to be an attempt to manufacture interesting characters, instead of depending on the script to do that. Full Review |
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1/4 |
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. Full Review |
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2/4 |
It ... has an insistently fussy and grandiose production design that mistakes lavish textures, brilliant colors and exotic backdrops for story atmosphere and style. Full Review |
CommentLatest News for Shadowboxer
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