Crooklyn (1994)

Please click the links to read a few other reviews about movies set in Brooklyn, NY: Blue in the Face, Smoke, Arthur 2: On the Rocks, The Flamingo Kid, A Brooklyn State of Mind, We Own the Night, Brooklyn’s Finest, Brooklyn Rules, Borough of Kings / Brooklyn Sonnet, Brooklyn Lobster, Clockers, and Straight Out of Brooklyn. 

Synopsis: Director Spike Lee fondly reminisces about his childhood….which apparently consisted of one huge screaming fight after another. 

Blurb From the VHS Jacket: “A new laugh from the old neighbourhood”

What Did I Learn?: You can either own a miniature dog, or a fold-out couch, but it’s a bad idea to own both. 

You Might Like This Movie If: You're deeply nostalgic for 1973.

Really?: 1) See: “What Did I Learn?” Holy shit, was Troy or her cousin responsible for that poor creature’s horrible death? It’s never made entirely clear, but neither one of them liked the dog, and they didn’t seem terribly upset by its grotesque demise. Killing an innocent animal (if that’s what actually happened) is seriously psychotic. 2) Funny how Carolyn’s cancer and subsequent passing are introduced right at the end of the film, and up until that point we’re never given any sense that she might be ill. 3) See: “Synopsis.” Wow….take a drink any time a scene descends into chaos, and everybody starts shouting. 4) Wait, did Lee and his siblings seriously sing along to the Partridge Family? I spent my formative years in the 1970s, and even back then I thought that show was the lamest thing ever to appear on television. 

Rating: Crooklyn received some rave reviews after it debuted in 1994, so I was hoping it would be a warm, poignant, and loving snapshot in time. Sure, the film includes a few tender moments, and I have to credit both Delroy Lindo and Alfre Woodard for outstanding performances, but Crooklyn is difficult to watch, simply because it’s essentially a series of barely-connected vignettes that mostly end in shouting matches, and it’s populated with characters who are often cruel, violent, mean-spirited and selfish. This movie might have worked if Lee had focused more on Delroy’s character - the kind-hearted but frustrated musician who has to follow his own path, rather than those obnoxious kids. 5.5/10 stars. 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109504/?ref_=hm_rvi_tt