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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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Black and White
Screen Gems Inc.
FILM:
MPAA RATING: R for strong sexuality, graphic language, some violence and drug use
Starring
Robert Downey Jr.,
Oli,
Jared Leto,
Bijou Phillips,
Scott Caan,
Gaby Hoffman,
and
Stacey Edwards
A searing, comedic and exhilarating look at race, sex and hip hop in the melting pot that is Manhattan at the turn of the 21st century. (Screen Gems)
| GENRE(S): |
Drama
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
James Toback
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
James Toback
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: September 26, 2000
Video: September 26, 2000
Theatrical: April 5, 2000
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
98 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
83
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
A pulsating snapshot of America caught in a mad, liberating identity crisis.

75
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
The agony of invention is there on the screen.

75
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
The story is a mess, as usual with Toback's movies, but intricacies of contemporary urban culture are vividly illuminated by his insistence on blurring the boundaries between fiction and reality.

75
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
Toback presents specific characters dealing with specific problems and, through their stories, somehow manages to take the temperature of the times.

70
Dallas Observer
Gregory Weinkauf
Immediately disarming for its candor, verve, and sheer nerve.

70
Slate
David Edelstein
Gleefully pushes everyone's buttons...and that manages to exploit our own racial discomfort and envy in ways that leave us hungry for more.

67
Austin Chronicle
Marjorie Baumgarten
Fascinating, perplexing, amusing, and irascible.

60
The New York Times
A.O. Scott
It's another of Mr. Toback's quick-talking autobiographies that, like the best pop, have a clock running on their expiration dates.

60
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
This lively mess proves that when Toback loses his head, he does it with style.
60
Newsweek
Jack Kroll
Maverick moviemaker James Toback has latched on to the most fascinating cultural phenomenon of the American moment.

60
Film.com
Robert Horton
Works best as a free-flowing essay.

60
LA Weekly
Manohla Dargis
A sui generis excursion into sex and race that is by turns terrible...and close to divine.

57
Mr. Showbiz
Kevin Maynard
An audacious but underconceived blend of fiction and documentary that questions the idea of race and identity in America.
50
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
At heart a cliché-strewn melodrama about a bunch of white, upper-class Manhattan kids who aspire to ghetto culture.
50
New York Daily News
Jack Mathews
There's something deeper at play in the film, something psychologically foul, voyeuristic and personal.

42
Portland Oregonian
Shawn Levy
Too often monochromatic, programmatic and just plain lost.
40
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
Strident and bombastic.

40
Film.com
John Hartl
The movie is such a mess that it seems to have been assembled from pieces randomly picked from the cutting-room floor.

40
Film.com
Sean Means
When your characters are only skin deep, so is your message.

40
Salon.com
Charles Taylor
Toback's method of presenting the evidence without judgment backfires, finally appearing just as shapeless as the movie's structure.

38
USA Today
Mike Clark
Sometimes laughably incoherent.
30
Los Angeles Times
John Anderson
The voyeuristic indulgences of a middle-aged filmmaker playing out his most deep-seated and unresolved sexual fantasies and anxieties.

25
Chicago Tribune
Barbara Shulgasser
There is really no one to like in this film.
25
San Francisco Examiner
Wesley Morris
Ideological disaster!

20
Village Voice
J. Hoberman
Peaks with its opening scene.

20
Chicago Reader
Jonathan Rosenbaum
An extravagant mess.

5
TNT RoughCut
Pauline Adamek
When worlds collide - people yawn.

The average user rating for this movie is 0.0 (out of 10) based on 0 User Votes
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