There's not a trace of irony as this glib, sense-numbing action fantasy has it both ways: violence without personal consequences and decisions without repercussions.
Comment
01/01/00
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Turn It Up (2000)
8
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:38
Fresh:3
Rotten:35
Average Rating:3.4/10
Consensus: Reviewers say Turn It Up has a derivative feel, running through too many urban movie cliches.
Runtime: 87 mins
Genre: Musical & Performing Arts
Box Office: $738,654
Synopsis: Rapper Pras Michel (of the Fugees) stars in this tale of a gifted young musician with big dreams. Partially based on Pras's autobiographical book and album GHETTO SUPASTAR, the story also features... [More]
Starring: Pras Michel, Ja Rule, Lauryn Hill, Vondie Curtis-Hall
Director: Robert Adetuyi
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Reviews for Turn It Up
Even the soundtrack ... sounds like leftovers.
01/01/00
The film is little more than an unambitious, well-packaged passel of urban black clichés.
01/01/00
None of this is remotely compelling, and first-time writer/director Robert Adetuyi doesn't develop anything resembling a style.
01/01/00
It lacks the originality and integrity that might have allowed the movie to breakout from the pack rather than sticking with it.
03/21/01
This is perhaps the worst film of its kind to see a theatrical release.
01/01/00
What's pathetic is that Turn It Up halfway wants its hero to serve as a role model, but neither the hero nor the movie is prepared to walk the walk.
01/01/00
Top CriticThe film uses every standard urban drama story line in the book.
01/01/00
Top CriticIt's hard to say if even devoted Fugees refugees will be able to stomach the mediocrity plaguing this loose autobiography of the Ghetto Superstar himself, ex-Fugee Prakazrel 'Pras' Michel.
01/01/00
A lot of movies are predictable, of course, but this one seems inordinately determined to squash its characters (and performers) flat with its lack of imagination.
01/01/00
Pras and Rule look good, and handle their guns smoothly in the movie's elaborate shootouts, but there's nothing in their eyes, no spark or passion.
01/01/00
Top CriticEventually Turn It Up deteriorates into a gory shoot-'em-up gangster movie with a quick-fix ending that leaves many threads dangling. It could have been something more.
01/01/00
Top CriticThe whole tie-in with crime and 'gangstas' has been covered so many times in rap music videos that the film ends up feeling like recycled tripe.
01/01/00
Plays through every cliche imaginable with its clunky dialogue.
01/01/00
It's a formulaic street-crime thriller with a message, and if Turn It Up doesn't bring much new to the genre, it serves it reliably.
01/01/00
Top CriticNever aspires to be more than an excuse for Pras and Ja Rule to flash their ultra-sleek MTV fashions for 90 minutes.
03/21/01
Turn It Up is a hip-hop downer that makes the high-risk high-life of contempo gangstas seem glumly routine.
06/06/08
Top CriticThis was one long and very bad music video.
01/01/00
Surprisingly, for a movie about music, the sound is lousy. Some of the songs sound distorted because they have so much bass. In other moments, the dialogue is so low, it's hard to understand what the characters are saying.
03/05/07
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