Good idea, sadly gone wrong

Rating: 5/10 (5 March 2001)

I wanted this film to be good. I wanted it to be what it looked like--a stirring, difficult to watch, challenging portrayal of racism in modern America. It just missed too many boats to do that. But in fairness, I'll talk about it's good points first. The basic premise is great, a truly remarkable way to address American racism. Focus on one town and more specifically one family...really good (I'd like to refer you to the TNT movie "Freedom Song" as a film that more successfully deals with racism by looking at one town deeply rather than the whole country shallowly). Some really good acting from Norton and Furlong, also D'Angelo. Also succeeds in being, if nothing else, shocking. The EVENTS of the film, in a synopsis, are genuinely moving, and I think a really good film could have been made out of such a premise.
Unfortunately, the quality of a movie is not just based on subject matter.
The flaws are far more numerous and deadly. The script was really dull, only one good line, and lots of really hollow scenes. The exposition towards the beginning is artless--police reports and news footage to give us character backgrounds? That may not sound so terrible, but it really stood out to me as insultingly trite. Also takes too long at the beginning to get started. We spend over an hour wondering what it was that finally converted Norton and the answer is underwhelming. I was trying to decide if it would be sudden epiphany or gradual coming to understand. The answer? It's neither. The black guy he works with in the prison cracks some jokes, Norton finds himself laughing, and bang, all his racism gone. Right. Ditto Furlong's character. The movie takes less than 24 hours (not counting flashbacks), and in that time Furlong goes from being a Hitler-in-training to the most understanding fellow around. How? His brother (Norton) tells the story of how the black guy he worked with in prison, etc., etc. Sorry, I needed more of a struggle there, then I'd see his newfound tolerant convictions as being stronger. Many of the characters, as other people note, are one-dimensional, most unfortunately the main secondary character, Furlong's teacher who talks Norton through his conversion. This fault ties in with a much bigger one. It seems like everyone in the town is concerned primarily with racism. Obviously, it's a movie about racism, but when the only two cliques in the prison were black guys and neo-Nazis, it felt too contrived.
Sorry, like I said, good idea, poor execution. A shame, it could have been good.