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SYNOPSIS:
Sentenced to 5000 hours of community service, Durell Washington's
life quickly goes from bad to worse. Realizing that the Lord
helps those who help themselves, he eventually decides to
help himself to the neighbourhood chuch's building fund. Accompanied
by his dimwitted partner-in-crime LeeJohn, the two down-on-their-luck
men are dismayed to discover the cash has already been stolen
so they hold their congregation hostage in a Hail Mary attempt
to learn who amongst the righteous has already run away with
their loot!
MOVIE
REVIEW
To be fair, this movie does have a rather innovatively
funny tagline: “Keep the faith. Steal the rest”.
And looking at the DVD cover, you’d expect this bunch
of Black Americans to concoct a really funny comedy where
politically incorrect jokes come at you non stop. But alas,
we found ourselves wondering when the drab movie will end
– Yes, we still make a point to sit through shows like
that when no one else will.
But
we digress. This directorial debut by writer/ director/ playwright/
author/ producer David E. Talbert (apparently a very talented
guy whose urban theatre works have been received with critical
acclaim worldwide) tells the story of two best friends who
happens to rob for a living (read: criminals). They decide
to rob the neighborhood church. But things go wrong when they
realize that someone has beaten them to it, and in a turn
of events, the duo has to spend the night in the holy building
with holy followers – cue religious and stereotype jokes,
please.
The
motley crew of actors includes Ice Cube (Are We Done Yet?),
Katt Williams (Norbit), Tracy Morgan (Superhero Movie) and
Chi McBride (The Brothers Solomon). If the main cast’s
filmography appeals to you, then you’d probably find
this picture appealing too. After all, these Black American
actors do have a reputation of making movies of such genre
to make viewers chuckle and snigger.
Unfortunately,
we didn’t find ourselves chuckling a lot during the
98 minute movie. There are even moments when the picture feels
like a drag when all you hear are the characters talking non
stop. It would have helped if the dialogue were crisp and
fresh wisecracks, but what we get instead are remotely rib
tickling exchanges like: What kinda name is LeeJohn anyway?/
My mom had two boyfriends, Lee and John. She didn't know who
my daddy was, so she named me LeeJohn/ I dunno if I would
have shared that.
Just
not our idea of funny - If you know what it feels like to
expect a side splitting movie to cheer up your day, only to
feel the heaving pace 10 minutes into the show. Maybe it’s
a culture thing, maybe it’s the terrible weather that’s
getting on our nerves, or maybe the movie is just plain uninteresting
to sit through – There’s indeed a reason why this
one never made it to our big screens here.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
Surprisingly, this Code 3 DVD contains quite a lot
of special features. First, there’s a Feature
Commentary with writer/ director David E. Talbert
where he talks about how grateful he is to Ice Cube for giving
him a chance to direct a feature film. The engaging filmmaker
gives an in depth description of the scenes shot in Baltimore
and also how his characters are set up. There are 14
Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary where Talbert
talks about how he felt certain scenes were too long –
we are glad he knows. The 4-minute Gag Reel
is your typical NG takes, but they are still kind of funny,
and will make you giggle a little. In the 5-minute
Outtakes, you see Katt Williams being an irritant
at the church and Tiffany “New York” Poland act
funny. Then there’s David E. Talbert’s
Camera Wrap Speech, where he gives out nice clapper
boards and thanks everyone in a heartwarming 3-minute speech
– we are sure he is a nice man on set. There is also
a 16-minute “Hood Robbin” with the First
Sunday Cast and Crew featurette where you hear about
how the story was conceptualized and eventually made it to
the big screen – maybe we were too harsh on the first
time director in our review. Included in the disc are also
Trailers for movies like Hancock and This
Christmas.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The
visuals are nicely transferred onto the disc, but there isn’t
really anything to be impressed about the cinematography here.
There are English, Spanish, Portuguese and Thai 5.1 Dolby
Digital audio tracks to choose from.
MOVIE
RATING:
DVD
RATING :
Review
by John Li
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