Word Play and Gun Play: A Tarantino-Lover's Delight

Rating: 8/10 (20 April 1999)

This delightfully disrespectful adaptation of Elmore Leonard's "Rum Punch" features the return of Pam Grier to the big screen, along with Robert Forster as a stoic bail bondsman and Samuel L. Jackson recreating his signature archetypal criminal type. Set in a Los Angeles that is as metaphorically far away from Tinseltown as possible, the movie follows grizzled flight attendant Jackie Brown as she tries to rescue herself from her own troubled life. The stars shine, although Robert De Niro's one-dimensional character could have been played by a trained gorilla. Lighter than "Pulp" and "Reservoir Dogs", this movie was mislabeled as being Tarantino Lite. Rest assured that this movie features enough clever word play and gun play along with the plentiful expletives that are Tarantino hallmarks. If you tolerate Tarantino's vertigo-inducing direction and like the big screen portrayals of other Elmore Leonard works such as "Get Shorty", then you are sure to enjoy "Jackie Brown."