It tells a story that would fit perfectly in a standard Hollywood action thriller, but it tells it in the grammar and syntax of an art film. The two sensibilities make no sense together.
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08/03/06
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Shadowboxer (2006)
20
%
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Reviews Counted:56
Fresh:11
Rotten:45
Average Rating:4/10
Consensus: With random characters and a preposterous plot, this bizarre thriller might leave you with your mouth hanging open in disbelief.
Theatrical Release:Jul 21, 2006 Limited
Box Office: $317,695
Synopsis: Hardboiled and at times incongruous, Lee Daniels's (MONSTER'S BALL) directorial debut sets out to smash stereotypes with a noirish crime thriller about loyalty, loss, love, and guilt. Cuba Gooding... [More]
Starring: Cuba Gooding, Helen Mirren, Vanessa Ferlito, Macy Gray
Director: Lee Daniels
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Reviews for Shadowboxer
Top CriticOne of the campiest, most lushly ludicrous movies to come out in a while.
07/27/06
Top CriticThere's no glee here, just a handful of glum characters stuck in an unending cycle of sex, violence, and heavy-handed preaching.
08/19/06
This cat-and-mouse caper's Swiss cheese plotline is riddled with too many holes to consider this flick as much more than a snuff film.
07/14/07
It wants to break new ground but lacks the ability to think outside of the box.
07/08/06
I'd sooner sit through 32 hours of Congressional committee testimony about imported yarn than watch Shadowboxer again.
08/04/06
Daniels offers a lame attempt to do what Quentin Tarantino has frequently done better -- and with far more cinematic artistry.
07/28/06
Who says critics are useless? Now you don't have to see the movie, unless, of course, you derive some satisfaction/pleasure from graphic violence, unforgivably cliched scripts and/or repeated sightings of Gooding's bare bottom.
07/27/06
"Mr. and Mrs. Smith" in an altered consciousness--one that'll bring arthouse habituees to attention, if not to their feet, out of respect for courage and originality.
03/05/06
An envelope-pushing melodrama just this side of 'Pulp Fiction' parody.
07/05/06
A ridiculous movie that starts off completely cracked and just gets crazier and crazier.
07/28/06
Top CriticThe artificially staged and lush visuals are at such odds with the reserved, subtle performances that you'll wish director Lee Daniels had done away with the pretense and just pointed the camera at the actors and yelled 'Action!'
07/20/06
The one thing I'll say about Shadowboxer is that it's never boring. Of course, I could also say that about stepping on crushed glass.
08/07/06
Top CriticThe script can't quite get a grasp on character depth, yet it also can't quite deliver the cheap thrills such a trashy tale might otherwise provide.
11/04/06
With the exception of the acting, this amateurish and incomplete film gives the impression that the debutant writer and director want to cram into their saga as many subects as possible, though none too well.
07/18/06
It doesn't take long to figure out that Shadowboxer's Helen Mirren, as a cancer-ridden hitwoman, and Cuba Gooding Jr., as her doting stepson, are the most unconvincing team of hired assassins in movie history.
07/28/06
Top CriticDespite assembling a talented cast and crew, Daniels is stymied here by a script that takes itself far too seriously.
03/01/07
Daniels know his way around making the viewer uncomfortable, but there's a fine line between genuine, pants-tickling eroticism and 'I can't believe I'm watching this surrounded by strangers' soft-core porn.
08/04/06
a pleasant surprise
07/21/06
Gosh, it's almost too bad/good to be true.
08/25/06
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