25th Hour (2002)

"25th Hour. Stop complaining and whining and get on with it." - a review by citizenjoe

25th Hour (Directed by Spike Lee) is about a drug dealer (Edward Norton) who finally gets caught for dealing after years of making a fortune from the game. The film basically takes place on his last day before going in to jail and doing his time.

The problem with this film is that it's the audience that does "time" trying to get through this drivel. The final credits are as welcome as sight to a blind man. I wanted to nominate them for an Oscar for great timing. The only thing against the nomination is that they took two hours to get there.

Monty Brogan (Edward Norton) is finding it hard to believe he's going to jail where he knows he'll be fucked up the arse by other inmates because he's far too pretty.

Monty Brogan wonders what went wrong with his life. He was a junior sports star, a student with an unbelievably high IQ, and then it all went pear shape when he started dealing. Why oh why, says Monty.

Monty Brogan cries and whines and wonders how it could have been if only ...

Oh, poo poo!!!

Spike Lee directs this movie as if it were afternoon TV Soap Opera. We are expected to feel sorry for this jerk. And, my god, what are all the references to September 11 doing? They're all over this movie.

Am I supposed to see an analogy to America in Monty Brogan: "America has been bad and arrogant, but September 11 helped us see ourselves and we will repent for our actions and look to changing our ways"?

Really?

What a waste of talent this is. You have Spike Lee Directing, Actors include Edward Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Barry Pepper, Anna Paquin (she's very good) and the very beautiful Rosario Dawson who plays Monty's love interest Naturelle Riviera. The film was so excruciating to watch that about the only thing that may have lifted it would have been a typical Brian De Palma shower scene with Ms Dawson.

Yes, that's how low I got watching this.

Ratings given without reviews:

• em_fiction: 8