In the horror spoof "Tales From the Hood", screenwriter Darin Scott, along with writer-director Rusty Cundieff, took genre blending to considerable extremes with lively if very mixed results.
With "Caught Up", Scott's directorial debut, he applies the technique to the classic crime/guy in the wrong place at the wrong time story with a similar, wildly uneven payoff. At times coming across like an urban David Lynch, Scott lacks the directing chops to effectively keep the diverse elements (not to mention acting styles) in check by creating a unifying, overall tone.
Those who like their urban crime movies straight up will likely pass up "Caught Up", although it could snag some video business.
The picture starts on what would appear to be a predictable path. Daryl Allen (Bokeem Woodbine), is the troubled young man who tries to get his life back on the right path but finds out fate has other ideas.
Thrown into jail for a robbery to which he had inadvertently become an accessory, Daryl emerges from prison five years later only to subsequently get caught up with an exotic fortuneteller (Cynda Williams) who bears an uncanny resemblance to the mother of his son and draws him into a crazed universe in which sleazy small-time operators, sadistic Rastafarian warlords, corrupt cops and bladder bags (don't ask) share equal billing.
Scott's script certainly has its fresh, unpredictable moments, but as the film progresses it becomes harder to distinguish the funny from the unintentionally funny. Whenever he decides it's time to go back to being serious, the transitions become harder and harder to pull off. The direction is part of the problem. So are the performances.
Lead Woodbine ("Jason's Lyric", "Dead Presidents") has a nice, quiet intensity that works well for the part, but whenever he's required to do anything beyond a specific range, the results aren't quite as convincing. Williams has some fun as the duplicitous temptress but she probably doesn't go far enough given Scott's anything-goes parameters. Other performances are high on the ham factor, while the touted appearances of Snoop Doggy Dogg and LL Cool J turn out to be no more than one-scene cameos.
At least you can't fault Scott's visual flair, which, with sturdy assists from DP Tom Callaway and production designer Terrence Foster, runs the style gamut from a tongue-in-cheek Bond-esque opening to vintage 1930s Warner Bros.' superimposition to BET music video slickness.
CAUGHT UP
LIVE Entertainment
A Heller Highwater production
in association with LIVE Film and Mediaworks
A Darin Scott film
Director-screenwriter: Darin Scott
Producer: Peter Weller
Director of photography: Tom Callaway
Production designer: Terrence Foster
Editor: Charles Bornstein
Costume designer: Tracey White
Music: Marc Bonilla
Casting: Tony Lee
Color/stereo
Cast:
Daryl: Bokeem Woodbine
Vanessa/Trish: Cynda Williams
Billy Grimm: Joseph Lindsey
Herbert/Frank Lowden: Clifton Powell
Ahmad: Basil Wallace
Kool Kat Daddy: Snoop Doggy Dogg
Roger: LL Cool J
Running time -- 95 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
With "Caught Up", Scott's directorial debut, he applies the technique to the classic crime/guy in the wrong place at the wrong time story with a similar, wildly uneven payoff. At times coming across like an urban David Lynch, Scott lacks the directing chops to effectively keep the diverse elements (not to mention acting styles) in check by creating a unifying, overall tone.
Those who like their urban crime movies straight up will likely pass up "Caught Up", although it could snag some video business.
The picture starts on what would appear to be a predictable path. Daryl Allen (Bokeem Woodbine), is the troubled young man who tries to get his life back on the right path but finds out fate has other ideas.
Thrown into jail for a robbery to which he had inadvertently become an accessory, Daryl emerges from prison five years later only to subsequently get caught up with an exotic fortuneteller (Cynda Williams) who bears an uncanny resemblance to the mother of his son and draws him into a crazed universe in which sleazy small-time operators, sadistic Rastafarian warlords, corrupt cops and bladder bags (don't ask) share equal billing.
Scott's script certainly has its fresh, unpredictable moments, but as the film progresses it becomes harder to distinguish the funny from the unintentionally funny. Whenever he decides it's time to go back to being serious, the transitions become harder and harder to pull off. The direction is part of the problem. So are the performances.
Lead Woodbine ("Jason's Lyric", "Dead Presidents") has a nice, quiet intensity that works well for the part, but whenever he's required to do anything beyond a specific range, the results aren't quite as convincing. Williams has some fun as the duplicitous temptress but she probably doesn't go far enough given Scott's anything-goes parameters. Other performances are high on the ham factor, while the touted appearances of Snoop Doggy Dogg and LL Cool J turn out to be no more than one-scene cameos.
At least you can't fault Scott's visual flair, which, with sturdy assists from DP Tom Callaway and production designer Terrence Foster, runs the style gamut from a tongue-in-cheek Bond-esque opening to vintage 1930s Warner Bros.' superimposition to BET music video slickness.
CAUGHT UP
LIVE Entertainment
A Heller Highwater production
in association with LIVE Film and Mediaworks
A Darin Scott film
Director-screenwriter: Darin Scott
Producer: Peter Weller
Director of photography: Tom Callaway
Production designer: Terrence Foster
Editor: Charles Bornstein
Costume designer: Tracey White
Music: Marc Bonilla
Casting: Tony Lee
Color/stereo
Cast:
Daryl: Bokeem Woodbine
Vanessa/Trish: Cynda Williams
Billy Grimm: Joseph Lindsey
Herbert/Frank Lowden: Clifton Powell
Ahmad: Basil Wallace
Kool Kat Daddy: Snoop Doggy Dogg
Roger: LL Cool J
Running time -- 95 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 2/27/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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