Reel Critics

* EDITOR’S NOTE: The Reel Critics column features movie critiques written

by community members serving on our panel.

‘Black and White’ is waste of money

“Black and White” is writer/director James Toback’s documentary-style

film about the culture of hip-hop -- and we’re not talking the Easter

Bunny here.

Lewd and crude, the movie explores hip-hop’s appeal to a group of

affluent white New York teenagers who immerse themselves in the “gangsta”

lifestyle. When things get too real, however, some of them run back to

mommy and daddy.

The actors -- a stunt-casting coup of models, athletes, rappers, young

actors and personalities (Marla Maples?) -- are allowed to improvise

their dialogue, and it shows.

Surprisingly, the best scenes were those with Mike Tyson or Brooke

Shields, two people not known for being master thespians. However,

Claudia Schiffer and Knicks star Allan Houston restored my opinion that

models and athletes should not act.

Power (of the Wu-Tang Clan) makes an impressive debut. Robert Downey Jr.

and Ben Stiller are excellent as always, but playing variations on other

roles in far better movies.

The story lines are predictable and weird. I did like the music, except

for a bizarre interlude of very loud strings during the film’s climax.

Toback is trying to make some in-your-face statements about race, sex,

trust, power and self-worth. He’s also made a mess of a movie and a waste

of my $8.

* SUSANNE PEREZ, 45, lives in Costa Mesa and is an executive assistant

for a financial services company.

Film should appeal to Springer set

The movie “Black and White” epitomizes the disgraceful decline of

mainstream Hollywood studios. Twenty years ago, no major actor or

director would be involved in a project as rude and crude as this. This

film would have been made as a “B” movie by a third-rate producer hoping

to tap into Jerry Springer’s low-brow, trash-talking audience.

Like the infamous TV show, this movie pretends to offer insight into a

current trend in our culture. In this case, it’s the emerging influence

of hip-hop music and the white kids attracted to it. And like the

Springer show, it quickly degenerates into a mindless, ugly and stupid

display of the worst character traits of everyone involved. We even have

the real Mike Tyson, playing himself, advising his young friends when to

commit murder and mayhem as needed to further their twisted goals.

Vile and offensive on every level, this movie is especially humiliating

to the young women who are used and abused by the male characters at the

center of the plot.

“Black and White” is a disjointed stream of consciousness that plays out

as an endlessly obscene MTV video. The limits of the R rating are pushed

to the max as steamy sex scenes are mixed with a continuous flow of the

most disgusting thoughts and language the law allows on screen.

This contrived movie manages to be equally degrading and insulting to

blacks, whites, women, gays and anyone with normal human sensibilities.

It’s as vulgar and shameful as a film can be.

* JOHN DEPKO, 48, is a Costa Mesa resident and a senior investigator for

the Orange County Public Defender’s Office.

‘Return to Me’ for romantics at heart

Hooray for Hollywood. They finally did it.

Bonnie Hunt, directory/actress, brought back the big romantic movie about

people in love with a balance of humor and sentiment that is so lacking

in today’s films. And the supporting characters actually have “real-life”

roles that contribute something to the charming story.

Life can change in a moment. It does for Bob Rueland (David Duchovny), a

highly successful builder in Chicago, and his wife, Elizabeth (Joely

Richardson), who is killed in a car crash.

Grace Briggs (Minnie Driver), an aspiring painter, works at her

grandfather’s cafe, co-owned by her grandfather, Marty (Carroll

O’Conner), and chef Angelo (Robert Loggia), his late wife’s brother.

Grace is so sweet, beautiful and very shy. She only recently had a heart

transplant: Bob meets Grace at the cafe and of course it’s a love story.

They become swiftly and utterly intertwined. He is grieving and she is

afraid to tell him she had a heart transplant, as if he wouldn’t like

damaged goods.

Hunt plays Driver’s doting sister. Her husband (James Belushi, at his

best) is a lovable, boisterous local cop. All the caring relatives stick

their well-meaning noses into Grace and Bob’s romance.

With her flawless cast, Hunt was able to mix laughter, tears, fantasy,

love and clever twists throughout the film. We loved it. It makes you

want to fall in love all over again. You’ll hold hands during this one.

We say to all romantics, “Return to Me” is your film.

* GAY WASSALL-KELLY, 60, is the editor of a Balboa newspaper and is

active in the community. BILL KELLY, 59, is an industrial engineer.