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10/18/08
Summer of Sam (1999)
50 %
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 96
Fresh: 48
Rotten:48
Average Rating: 5.6/10
Consensus: Spike Lee offers intense visuals but his storytelling feels crowded and overambitious.
Runtime: 2 hrs 22 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: SUMMER OF SAM, Spike Lee's sizzling interpretation of the summer of 1977 in New York City, when thermometers shattered and a serial killer terrorized the city, focuses on an Italian-American... [More]
Starring: John Leguizamo, Mira Sorvino, Adrien Brody, Jennifer Esposito
Director: Spike Lee
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Reviews for Summer of Sam
This ultimately disappoints, but it is good to see Lee branch out into subjects which don't immediately lend themselves to his single-minded politicizing.
09/23/08
Like most of Lee's work, this bites off more than it can chew, but the breadth and energy are impressive.
09/23/08
Top CriticThe film is sloppy and ill-formed, its tone lurching drunkenly from turgid soap opera to soft-core porn, descending at times to low camp.
08/07/08
This is trashy exploitation at its clumsiest. Once more, a Spike Lee movie has been undone by the earnestness of being important.
04/27/07
Top CriticTrouble is, the overlong narrative, however entertaining from minute to minute, is a mess.
06/24/06
I needed stronger and more balanced characters to really care what happened.
05/26/06
Whatever you think of Spike Lee, when he has the faith in his talent and material and is able to be political without the dogma, he's one of the best filmmakers to come out of America in the 1980's.
12/06/05
Lee does capture the terror a serial killer can wreak upon the community, but his concentration on the weak characters hurts in the long run.
04/09/05
The story makes very important points, and shows us a graphic parable of the wages of sin. But the ugliness along the way will be too much for some viewers....
01/15/05
Disappointing.
08/11/04
Spike Lee's most ambitious movie, is joltingly inspired at times. It's also offensively redundant and needs editing.
06/28/04
The cast sizzles.
05/20/03
An intelligent, compassionate, adult story told to thrilling, fearsome effect.
10/15/02
...tremendous, haunting, multi-textured ...
08/23/02
Both beguiling and confounding, an enigmatic blend of banality and brilliance that ultimately manages to overcome its myriad shortcomings through nothing but the sheer force of Lee's visionary direction.
06/05/02
It's easily Lee's most accomplished and satisfying movie since Malcolm X.
04/03/02
The disappointment with Summer of Sam is not that it's exploitative; it's just difficult to figure out what it's supposed to be about.
03/22/02
Top CriticA riveting and unsettling look at the summer of 1977 when fear and paranoia reigned.
03/05/02
A sprawling, brilliantly acted character study which touches on love, friendship and betrayal, while also managing to recreate the last days of disco without a note of self-parody.
04/17/01
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