Laurence Fishburne's vanity production "Once in the Life" serves only to demonstrate that Fishburne, a talented, inventive actor, is, unfortunately, not ready to write and direct motion pictures. His characters are cliches, and his directorial hand is heavy indeed. Beyond the curiosity factor, there doesn't appear to be much of an audience for this turgid drama about criminal misfits who occupy the dregs of the New York social strata.
The material started out as a play titled "Riff Raff" that Fishburne wrote. While it's hard to tell without having seen the stage show, it appears Fishburne made several crucial mistakes in adapting the play to the screen.
Much of the focus is on a three-way confrontation among petty crooks in an abandoned Manhattan building. While static and uninvolving, this encounter presumably contained a few surprise twists and revelations about these men and their relationships as performed on stage.
But in Fishburne's film version, these secrets get revealed in the early sections of the movie, rendering the final two-thirds of the film a dramatic gun that shoots only blanks.
Fishburne plays 20/20 Mike, a two-bit street hoodlum whose nickname indicates he possesses an instinct for foresight and self-preservation. Titus Welliver is Torch, Mike's unlikely white half-brother, who is an unreliable junkie -- only 20/20 fails to notice this obvious fact. A heist of heroin goes bad because of Torch's itchy trigger finger, forcing the two brothers into hiding from a local crime boss (Paul Calderon).
20/20 telephones an old pal, Tony the Tiger (Eamonn Walker), to help him out of this jam. What 20/20 doesn't realize is that Tony works for the mob boss they're hiding from. (Perhaps 20/20 should change his nickname to Myopic Mike.)
As we wait for Tony To kill the two brothers -- a foregone conclusion once his wife (Anabella Sciorra) and baby girl get kidnapped by the mob boss -- the cons occasionally burst into overwrought poetry, which in this instance makes about as much sense as introducing a dog that can growl Shakespeare.
One subplot does contain a faintly funny bit of sicko humor. A character named Freddie Nine Lives (Dominic Chianese Jr.) gets caught by two of the crime lord's henchmen (Gregory Hines and Michael Paul Chan). The two torture Nine Lives for information and then continue the torture for sheer fun.
Poor old Nine Lives, in Scheherazade fashion, must tell racist jokes to the two sadists to distract them from the task of torturing him to death. He dies -- but not before telling some really bad jokes.
Technical credits are perfunctory. And while it's not production designer Charley Beal's fault, staring at that bedraggled eyesore of a set in an abandoned building grows extremely tiresome
ONCE IN THE LIFE
Lions Gate Releasing
Shooting Gallery Pictures
in association with Cinema Gypsy Prods.
Producers: David Bushell, Laurence Fishburne, Helen Sugland
Screenwriter-director: Laurence Fishburne
Based on the play "Riff Raff" by:
Laurence Fishburne
Executive producers: Larry Meistrich,
Stephen Carlis
Director of photography: Richard Turner
Production designer: Charley Beal
Music: Branford Marsalis
Costume designer: Darryle Johnson
Editor: Bill Pankow
Color/stereo
Cast:
20/20 Mike: Laurence Fishburne
Torch: Titus Welliver
Tony: Eamonn Walker
Ruffhous: Gregory Hines
Buddha: Michael Paul Chan
Freddie Nine Lives: Dominic Chianese Jr.
Maxine: Annabella Sciorra
Manny Rivera: Paul Calderon
Running time - 110 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
The material started out as a play titled "Riff Raff" that Fishburne wrote. While it's hard to tell without having seen the stage show, it appears Fishburne made several crucial mistakes in adapting the play to the screen.
Much of the focus is on a three-way confrontation among petty crooks in an abandoned Manhattan building. While static and uninvolving, this encounter presumably contained a few surprise twists and revelations about these men and their relationships as performed on stage.
But in Fishburne's film version, these secrets get revealed in the early sections of the movie, rendering the final two-thirds of the film a dramatic gun that shoots only blanks.
Fishburne plays 20/20 Mike, a two-bit street hoodlum whose nickname indicates he possesses an instinct for foresight and self-preservation. Titus Welliver is Torch, Mike's unlikely white half-brother, who is an unreliable junkie -- only 20/20 fails to notice this obvious fact. A heist of heroin goes bad because of Torch's itchy trigger finger, forcing the two brothers into hiding from a local crime boss (Paul Calderon).
20/20 telephones an old pal, Tony the Tiger (Eamonn Walker), to help him out of this jam. What 20/20 doesn't realize is that Tony works for the mob boss they're hiding from. (Perhaps 20/20 should change his nickname to Myopic Mike.)
As we wait for Tony To kill the two brothers -- a foregone conclusion once his wife (Anabella Sciorra) and baby girl get kidnapped by the mob boss -- the cons occasionally burst into overwrought poetry, which in this instance makes about as much sense as introducing a dog that can growl Shakespeare.
One subplot does contain a faintly funny bit of sicko humor. A character named Freddie Nine Lives (Dominic Chianese Jr.) gets caught by two of the crime lord's henchmen (Gregory Hines and Michael Paul Chan). The two torture Nine Lives for information and then continue the torture for sheer fun.
Poor old Nine Lives, in Scheherazade fashion, must tell racist jokes to the two sadists to distract them from the task of torturing him to death. He dies -- but not before telling some really bad jokes.
Technical credits are perfunctory. And while it's not production designer Charley Beal's fault, staring at that bedraggled eyesore of a set in an abandoned building grows extremely tiresome
ONCE IN THE LIFE
Lions Gate Releasing
Shooting Gallery Pictures
in association with Cinema Gypsy Prods.
Producers: David Bushell, Laurence Fishburne, Helen Sugland
Screenwriter-director: Laurence Fishburne
Based on the play "Riff Raff" by:
Laurence Fishburne
Executive producers: Larry Meistrich,
Stephen Carlis
Director of photography: Richard Turner
Production designer: Charley Beal
Music: Branford Marsalis
Costume designer: Darryle Johnson
Editor: Bill Pankow
Color/stereo
Cast:
20/20 Mike: Laurence Fishburne
Torch: Titus Welliver
Tony: Eamonn Walker
Ruffhous: Gregory Hines
Buddha: Michael Paul Chan
Freddie Nine Lives: Dominic Chianese Jr.
Maxine: Annabella Sciorra
Manny Rivera: Paul Calderon
Running time - 110 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 10/30/2000
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.