When Thugs Cry (2003)
Review by HTQ4
Film:
DVD:

Written and Directed by Parris Reaves
Starring Jah-Rista, Soundmaster T, Suzette Lloyd, T'Shaun Loren, Kennedy Safo, Jr.

Features:

• Trailer
  

Released by: Artisan
Rating: R
Region: 1
Anamorphic: Nope

My Advice: Skip it

Jerry and Terry Love (Jah-Rista and Soundmaster T) leave their home in Alabama to take to the streets of Chicago in the hopes of scoring a record deal with their rap music. However, their climb to the top is hampered by the fact that they've got to try to help their mom kick the crack habit. They do all of this with the help of a minister (Carl Wright) who helps them stay on the straight and narrow while helping their mom and pursuing their dreams.

I think that this script could have been really good. No, I mean, as it stands it could be really good--but I couldn't tell because the audio track of the film was very badly mixed. Almost none of the dialogue could be heard over the background noise that was also recorded on set. Whenever a certain mood is trying to be set, the music completely drowns out the dialogue completely. When you add to that the fact that the actors mumble their way through their lines, the plot becomes very difficult to follow. I do think that the director could be on the way to a promising career, because he seemed to be getting some decent moments out of his cast...if they could just be heard.

Make no mistake, this is a very raw movie. It definitely shows the seedy underbelly of Chicago, a place where drugs are a way of life and your killer could be waiting around the next corner. The other problem with the movie is that it looks like it was shot on someone's home video camera and edited on their home computer. I realize it was probably done on the cheap, but there's the cheap and there's cheap to the point where the whole thing suffers.

The DVD is just a waste of space. First of all, it's a nonanamorphic presentation of the movie. And, the only item that looks remotely like a special feature is the trailer for the movie, again something that looks like it was edited together on someone's home computer. And that's all you get. There are no interviews with the cast, which might have been interested seeing as how I'm not sure how much acting experience they had under the belts. There's no interview with the director--again, it's his third film, so that might be worth hearing about as well. But alas, nada.

The weak technical quality of the film undermines whatever core drama there might have been lurking around, and the lack of features only drives the mediocrity home. This is definitely a movie that should be avoided at all costs.