Not a great movie, with brilliant performances

Rating: Null/10 (7 March 1999)

Before I say anything about the movie itself, let me say that Ed Norton is brilliant (as usual) in this. He is making it hard for me to decide who I want to win best actor this year. Amazing. The movie however is not a great movie, but it has a good message. It just wasn't well directed, the main qualm I had was the slow motion scenes. with a couple of minor exceptions, such as when he was being arrested, they were laughable. As for the plot, for the most part it was good. the prison scenes had my full attention, but some stuff towards the end bugged me. Like the discussion with his father. This seemed thrown in at the last second because the filmmakers thought that the original explanation wasn't good enough. They should not have made his father into a racist like they did. I would have been satisfied with just his dislike for affirmative action, but they had to push it over the edge and have him actually say it.
In summary, not a well directed film, with brilliant performances. It tackles a difficult subject, and that is good.