A pretty blunt and (overly) earnest movie with fine acting

Rating: 7/10 (6 May 2005)

The movie is basically a 6, maybe even a 5, but the acting really helps. Don Cheadle does a striking job, but of course we don't expect much less from him at this point. Also measuring up to expectations were Matt Dillon, Keith David and Tony Danza, though his part was small. Surprisingly good were Michael Pena, Ryan Philippe, and Ludicrous, who, looking back on all of this, might even be the sleeper of the cast.
Unfortunately, outside of the acting this was just an obvious, unimaginative, clunky movie. It's late, I don't really feel like getting into it, so I'll let it suffice to say that if you're the kind of person who likes ambiguous fiction, if you prefer art that asks you questions, leaves you with frayed and stringy ends for you to decide what to do with, then this movie is not for you. It gives you all the answers loud and clear, sometimes in the form of a cell phone ringer and the text that accompanies it.
But like I said, the acting is pretty great at times. Certainly it's worth a video rental just to see Cheadle, and if you combine Ludicrous and Matt Dillon, you might even find it worthwhile to see a matinÃ©e.