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Cover
20th Century Fox


3.0

based on 5 reviews
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How did we calculate this?

based on 4 votes
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Rate this movie

FILM:

Hoodlum

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for mature thematic material, sexual situations and language, violence and some drug content

Starring Aunjanue Ellis, Razaaq Adoti, Mya, Paula Jai Parker, Vivica A. Fox, and Louis Gossett Jr.

A kindly, church-going family woman is pushed to her limits as she tries to hold her family together in the face of scandal. She discovers that her husband has led a double life and possibly introduced a deadly disease into their relationship. But is this crisis enough to drive her to murder?

GENRE(S):	Drama \| Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Aaron Rahsaan Thomas Aliya Jackson
DIRECTED BY:	Bill Duke
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: May 13, 2008 Theatrical: February 22, 2008
RUNNING TIME:	89 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...

Village Voice Chuck Wilson

This is a weirdly schizophrenic movie, one that's light on the murder mystery and heavy on the sermonizing.

The New York Times Jeannette Catsoulis

The sledgehammer message is clear: Best friends can help when you need a McMansion, but only God can help when your husband needs a man.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

So overwrought that it quickly crosses the line into unintentionally funny and never recovers.

The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck

While this actor-filmmaker has delivered such worthy films as "A Rage in Harlem" and "Deep Cover" in the past, this misbegotten effort would be instantly forgettable if not for its potential as future camp classic.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Featuring eyeball-rolling performances by Vivica A. Fox, Patti LaBelle, Clifton Davis and the singularly named Leon, Cover would be a candidate for the year's most unintentionally funny movie so far - if it weren't also the most homophobic.

The average user rating for this movie is 3.0 (out of 10) based on 4 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Chad S. gave it a1:
Before Valerie Maas(Aunjanue Ellis) departs for the hotel where her husband is conducting his extra-marital affair, at that very moment as she sits behind the wheel while the engine's running, Zahara(Vivica A. Fox) makes a bad situation worse by handing her best friend a gun. That makes absolutely no sense at all. Valerie doesn't need a gun; she needs Zahara to accompany her. If Valerie pulled the trigger, she'd be charged with premeditated murder. The prosecution team would have no problem establishing motive. So it got me thinking. Since we know what surprise awaits Valerie, maybe the film, on some subconscious level, wants him dead, too. This scene plays like a rupture in the text. "Cover" is supposed to speak out against homophobia, but maybe the writer's heart really isn't in the film's dominant ideology. That's why he'd write such a poorly conceived scene, by which a woman would give her friend a firearm, supposedly, in the name of self-defense. That's why the church plays such an important role here. "Cover" pretends to be one of the tolerant church ladies, but they're the film's cover for the truth; this melodramatic film is actually on the side of the intolerant church ladies, who think a man like Dutch shouldn't be welcome inside their house of worship. A difference in opinion about the film's subject matter must be the reason why the tone of "Cover" is uneven, to say the least.

Jay H. gave it a3:
3.5/10. Preachy African American melodramatics, loses it's moral focus and wanders aimlessly across the screen. Amusing in ways that were not intended, it's a silly mess that appears thrown together without much guidance.

Tara S. gave it an8:
At least this film has something to say for a change....the homophobic macho culture for black males needs to wake up. black heterosexual females in this country have the highest infection rate for HIV and aids .

Sam P. gave it a0:
Has to be the most insulting film ever made on this subject.

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Cover 20th Century Fox

Cover
20th Century Fox