Summer of Sam (1999) 2 1/2 stars out of 4. Starring John Leguizamo, Miro Sorvino and Adrien Brody. Directed by Spike Lee.
In Summer of Sam, filmmaker Spike Lee has tried to create a mosaic of what is was like in New York City during the summer of 1977, a time when a deranged individual, later known as the Son of Sam, held the city in a grip of terror.
Sam, also called the .44-caliber killer because of his choice of weapon, went on a yearlong killing spree that left several people mostly women dead.
Lee's film is not so much a story about Sam himself, but about the paranoia that gripped the city and its effect on its residents.
Lee concentrates his story on one Italian-American alcove in the Bronx, where suspicion and fear hold the neighborhood in a vise of fear.
While the overall canvas is fascinating, Lee did not allow every part of his painting to dry before exhibiting it for the public.
His movie's main focus is on Vinny (John Leguizamo), a hair dresser continually cheating on his faithful wife, Dionna (Oscar-winner Mira Sorvino).
The movie also examines the strain put on the friendship between Vinny and Ritchie (Adrien Brody), a guy from the neighborhood now involved in the British punk scene.
With his spiked hair, dog-chain collar and outlandish dress, Ritchie immediately falls under the suspicious eyes of the other dimwits in the neighborhood who consider him a prime suspect for all the killings.
And that is the concept that is Lee's double-edged sword. The blue-collar boys in this 'hood are beer-swilling, foul-mouthed idiots. None, except for Vinny, hold a steady job.
If two of Summer of Sam's writers had not been Italian, Lee could be accused of racism. As it is, he presents a rather grim and depressing picture of a poor neighborhood where there's really nothing to do but hang out and fuel one's darker side.
As usual, Lee hits his point with a sledgehammer, having the men congregate under a large sign reading "Dead End." Subtlety is not Lee's forte.
The biggest flaw with the movie is it has no hero. Vinny is a lowlife whiner, drug-user and adulterer.
And his friends are no better. Ritchie, at least, has some nobility, as he goes about trying to make something of himself by joining a punk rock band and trying to stay true to his convictions.
Except for Ritchie, Lee gives his audience no one we can really care about.
Sorvino has one good scene in which she finally explodes at Vinny, spewing her pent-up frustrations about their relationship, his philandering and their going-nowhere lives together.
Lurking behind all of this is the character of David Berkowitz, who Lee brings to center stage for a few moments throughout the two-hour-and-20-minute drama.
But even here, Lee goes overboard. A sequence in which a delusional Berkowitz hears Sam (the dog who allegedly ordered him to kill) speak is done in such a manner that it creates laughter instead of horror or pity from the audience.
Summer of Sam is a flawed, but ambitious, exercise. It's loud, long and interesting, yet it also feels cold and distant. Lee tries to bring the city alive, making it the film's main character. He only partially succeeds, and that is the film's biggest disappointment.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, IN. He can be reached by e-mail at bloom@journal-courier.com. or at cbloom@iquest.net
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