I LIKE IT LIKE THAT
A film review by Michael John Legeros
Copyright 1994 Michael John Legeros
Written
& Directed by Darnell Martin
Cast Lauren Velez, Jon Seda Rita Moreno, Jesse Borrego,
Tomas Melly, Lisa Vidal, and Griffin Dunne (!)
MPAA Rating "R" (presumably for sex and language)
Running Time Approx. 110 minutes
===
The first major motion picture made by an African=American woman (as if that matters), I LIKE IT LIKE THAT is one of the best romantic comedies you'll see on screen this year.
The story is about the emotional, sexual, and economic pressures faced by a lower-income Latino couple; two young people trying to raise their kids in an aggressive Bronx neighborhood. "Street life" is tough, but Lisette and Chino (Velez and Seda) have stayed together for ten years. That is, until a citywide blackout changes their lives forever.
Writer/director Darnell Martin does the impossible here, maintaining a breezy, easy tone while incorporating the grim realities of urban living. She keeps her film funny-- sometimes *too* funny-- and never turns away the more sensitive subjects. Watch how smoothly she handles Chino's eleventh-hour encounter with a neighborhood drug dealer.
Her film is also very sexual, though neither offensive nor pornographic (in case you live in North Carolina and happen to be consuming alcohol at the time of viewing). The opening sequence, for example, centers on Chico's, ahem, "staying power."
Mainstream movies should be so frank.
Grade: B+
-- Michael J. Legeros Raleigh, North Carolina
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