CROOKLYN
A Film Review by Michael J. Legeros
Copyright 1994 Michael J. Legeros
Directed by Spike Lee
Written by Joie Susannah Lee, Cinque Lee, and Spike Lee
Cast Alfre Woodard, Delory Lindo, Zelda Harris, and a large supporting cast including Spike & Joie Lee, Frances Foster, and Vondie Curtis- Hall
MPAA Rating PG-13
Running Time 112 Minutes
==
"They talk funny down there." - Zelda Harris, who's ten-year-old character has returned from an extended visit "down south."
Spike Lee goes back to Brooklyn in CROOKLYN, an amusing, fictionalized look at the filmmaker's family life in the 1970's. No controversy here, just a sprawling comedy/drama that's filled with moldy oldies, freaky fashions, and, surprise!, clean city streets.
Meet the Carmichaels. Carolyn (Alfre Woodard) is the high-strung mother who teaches school to pay the bills so her husband, Woody (Delory Lindo), can work at reviving his stalled career as a jazz musician. Mom's on the edge and can barely keep her (five) kids under wraps; they scream and shout about everything from watching SOUL TRAIN to eating ice-cream.
For the Carmichaels, life on "the stoop" has both good days and bad. One day they're bickering with their bizarre next-door neighbor (David Patrick Kelly), the next they're all crying 'cause Daddy's left home. But CROOKLYN, like youth, is relatively upbeat and, with one exception, nothing terrible ever befalls the family. Even after an experiment in shoplifting by oldest child and only girl Troy (played by Zelda Harris, who is the *real* find in the film).
In fact, the biggest threat on the block is a pair of airplane- glue sniffers! Wow, what a difference a double-decade makes.
Well-intentioned it is, well-written it ain't. CROOKLYN is a narrative train-wreck that splits the focus in too many directions. Mom and dad and the kids and the neighbors and the merchants all compete for story time and, simply, there's too much going on to know on what's really going on.
(My vote for Most Glaring Non-sequitur is David Patrick Kelly, who has a split-second *second* role as a TV preacher with a wife who's wearing just a tad too much makeup. Sound familiar? :)
But Spike's skills as a director are always fresh and CROOKLYN is certainly a good watch. That is, with the exception of his choice to change the film's aspect ratio during a family visit "down south." But the joke's on Lee-- his portrayal of The-South-as-a-another-planet is *already* disorienting.
Pity the poor projectionist who has to field questions on *this* one!
Oddly, CROOKLYN doesn't do extremes. Lee keeps a tight reign on both dour drama and high hilarity. The tears are few and the laughs are lazy. He doesn't skimp on the music, though, and CROOKLYN features over three *dozen* period pieces that are available, as the credits conveniently note, on a two-volume soundtrack set.
Lest we forget the errs of our ways, credit the design departments for filling this 70's Offend-A-Thon with orange walls and platform shoes and more afros than you can shake a pick at. May we never paint furniture olive again.
HUMANE NOTE: The film features some hilarious politically incorrect
animal abuse, including one gut-buster that's worth the
price of matinee admission. The gag even beats A FISH
CALLED WANDA for croaked-canine comedy.
BOTTOM LINE: Spike Lee takes a break from controversy to spend a
summer in Brooklyn with this fictionalized look at
family life in the 197O's. Amusing to no end, CROOKLYN
is less story than slice-of-life and the change is
relatively refreshing.
Grade: C+
.
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