It's easily Lee's most accomplished and satisfying movie since Malcolm X.
Comment
04/03/02
Summer of Sam (1999)
50
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:96
Fresh:48
Rotten:48
Average Rating:5.6/10
Consensus: Spike Lee offers intense visuals but his storytelling feels crowded and overambitious.
Runtime: 2 hrs 22 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: SUMMER OF SAM, Spike Lee's sizzling interpretation of the summer of 1977 in New York City, when thermometers shattered and a serial killer terrorized the city, focuses on an Italian-American... [More]
Starring: John Leguizamo, Mira Sorvino, Adrien Brody, Jennifer Esposito
Director: Spike Lee
Reviews for Summer of Sam
Click to read the article
03/24/02
Top CriticThe disappointment with Summer of Sam is not that it's exploitative; it's just difficult to figure out what it's supposed to be about.
03/22/02
A riveting and unsettling look at the summer of 1977 when fear and paranoia reigned.
03/05/02
Everything that is good about Summer of Sam is also bad because Lee pushes every good impulse he has into overdrive.
02/27/01
Lee is a powerful filmmaker who certainly knows how to have an impact on an audience, but those who survive his ministrations are likely to wonder if in this case the battle was worth the bruises.
02/14/01
Top CriticThis is a real hit and miss movie, but mostly, it misses.
01/01/01
A big cartoon!
01/01/00
Top CriticSummer of Sam is a confused, jumbled movie!
01/01/00
t's loud, long and interesting, yet it also feels cold and distant.
01/01/00
Spike Lee's new film chronicles this event and the ways it touched a community through its violence and intolerance. It's Lee's most vibrant work yet, and it carefully explores each and every downfall Lee holds as a director.
01/01/00
This movie is constantly in motion, spinning from one level of the story to another.
01/01/00
Spike Lee, one of the most consistently visionary American filmmakers, makes a sprawling mess out of the summer of 1977.
01/01/00
Spike Lee's latest joint, like much of his recent work, is an epic exercise in tedium.
01/01/00
A sprawling wasteland of inflammatory tabloid moviemaking, it's more white-hot and frenetic and honestly emotional than any other movie this year.
01/01/00
The world of the movie is so violent, drug addled, and unattractive that we were left somewhat aghast.
01/01/00
Bravely weird, it shows sex and violence exploding, without explanation or definition, at a time when people felt out of control, simultaneously seduced and menaced. These complications make it a troubling, unforgettable experience.
01/01/00
A smooth ride down a dead end street.
01/01/00
I'm not one of the many admirers of Spike Lee's work, but his emphasis on small details and the depiction of a tensely-approached summer is obvious evidence of his growth as a movie director.
01/01/00
Spike Lee's take on the summer of 1977 in New York City.
01/01/00
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