Glorified G

American Gangster

(R)

originally published November 7, 2007

American Gangster is as imperfect as the complex anti-villain at its heart. No amount of positive acts can purify Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington), the third-rate thug who builds a drug empire and takes over Harlem, and no amount of Oscar winners - director (Ridley Scott), leads (Washington and Russell Crowe), screenwriter (Steven Zaillian), producer (Brian Grazer) - can fully redeem the leaden American Gangster, a film that should wow the audience with sizzling performances, crackling dialogue, and crisp characterizations but doesn’t.

Constructed as two separate but converging narratives, American Gangster plods through most of a two and a half hour running time that is dominated by Frank’s founding of a drug syndicate bigger than that of the Italian mafia. Smuggling pure heroin into the United States by way of Vietnam, Frank sells a top quality product for half his competitors’ prices. A self-professed family man, Frank brings his brothers (including Chiwetel Ejiofor and soul artist Common), cousins, nephews (Tip “T.I.” Harris), and mother (Ruby Dee) up from North Carolina, enlisting them in his illicit drug trafficking through employment or its spoils. Frank’s family first mantra and his high-minded speeches about honor are meant to fill in the criminal outline with all the colors of humanity, yet Frank remains sketchily drawn, known to us more through who Denzel Washington is than who Frank Lucas is. If not for Washington’s megawatt charm (that smile could light third world villages), Frank would be just another Tony Montana. Frank isn’t fighting the system; he’s bending it for his own personal gain by taking advantage of an underclass he claims to be helping. He even has the gall to cry foul when the bent system finally breaks.

The cop side of American Gangster’s two-headed coin is more morally palatable as Serpico-in-Training Richie Roberts seeks to take down Frank without getting his badge dirty. Denzel’s acting equal, Crowe, pulls the tougher duty; as Richie, he must take down Frank while lugging around feathered hair and a “Noo Yawk” accent. Fortunately, the Aussie is up to the task, which is more than I can say about the film. Holistically, American Gangster fails to live up to its potential. The acting is good not great (Denzel could do Frank Lucas in his sleep; like De Niro, Nicholson and Pacino, he needs a challenge not a paycheck). The direction is clear but pedestrian, and the film is never gripping enough. In the overpopulated gangster genre, a film needs to distinguish itself from its cut-rate competition. Despite Godfather-like aspirations, American Gangster is really just a classily-dressed Scarface lacking that film’s style or fun.

Drew Wheeler

Bee Amused

Bee Movie

(PG)

originally published November 7, 2007

Steadily buzzing with amusement, Bee Movie shouldn’t disappoint fans of Jerry Seinfeld, the author of a bestselling children’s book about Halloween who also happens to be a stand up comic who went on to superstardom as the star-writer-producer of arguably the greatest sitcom of all time. In Bee Movie, Seinfeld and his three co-writers particularize the minutiae of bee life in a way that can only be described as “Seinfeldian.”

Barry B. Benson (v. Seinfeld) has just finished his nine days of education, kindergarten through college, and is about to enter into the hive workforce. Faced with choosing an occupation - from crud picker to pollen jockey - that will last a lifetime, Barry quails, instead opting to venture into the human world.

After being saved from death by Timberland boot, Barry breaks the sacred law of the bees. He speaks to his savior, a human florist named Vanessa Bloome (v. Renée Zellweger). Fancying Vanessa a smidge, Barry begins to spend much of his time outside of the hive, where he learns an ugly truth. Humans are stealing honey from bees. The evil bipeds, including actor Ray Liotta, have even enslaved some of Barry’s yellow-and-black-striped brethren, using smoke to force them to produce the sticky, sweet nectar. This crime is too much for Barry, who sues the world’s honey sellers on behalf of bees everywhere. Of course, the outcome of the trial affects beedom in ways Barry had not foreseen, forcing the busy bee to correct his arrogant toying with the natural order of things.

Bee Movie is less a laugh riot than a steady peppering of breathtaking chuckles. Seinfeld delivers a plentitude of zingers in that nasally, interrogatory whine to which America had grown accustomed over nine seasons of “Seinfeld." We learn what the deal is with toe rings and bugs’ fascination with windows and light bulbs. Unlike other animated features, Bee Movie never challenges the Shreks for dominance of the pop culture roost. The film enlists its share of famous voices (Matthew Broderick, John Goodman, Chris Rock, Oprah, Sting, Larry King), but each is endemic to the plot. None is a mere punchline, though Barry’s appearance on Bee Larry King’s talk show on BeeNN is one of the film’s funniest scenes. Bee Movie also sports some jaw dropping visuals with its flight sequences, but the film’s quiet, ceaseless humor is its biggest draw. Ratatouille is certainly the year’s superior animated feature, but Bee Movie is a swell cartoon (why can’t we just call them all cartoons anymore?) that stings that old green ogre’s third outing in its rather large keister.

Drew Wheeler