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Caught Up
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by Lions Gate
Sales Rank: 56769
Price: $9.98
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It's no wonder <I>Caught Up</I> only garnered haphazard theatrical release in 1998. Director Darin Scott, who is credited with screenplay nods for <I>Tales from the Hood</I> and <I>Sprung</I>, tosses everything--including the kitchen sink--into this noir rip-off that borrows liberally from <I>Chinatown</I> and <I>Bound</I> but lacks the intelligent gravity and grace of the former and the stylish, tongue-in-cheek fun of the latter. Starring Bokeem Woodbine as Darryl, an ex-con who wants to go straight but who keeps finding himself in unlucky circumstances, <I>Caught Up</I> has laughable dialogue and terrible bug-eyed over-emoting that tries to pass for acting and wastes the laconic beauty of <I>One False Move</I> costar Cynda Williams, who plays a femme fatale named Vanessa Dietrich (honest!). Vanessa wraps Darryl around her little finger and embroils him in a voodoo-esque drug plot that will have the viewer rolling on the floor in disbelief. Had <I>Caught Up</I> played its convoluted plot for laughs, it may have at least been a camp parody on the genre, but as it is, it doesn't avoid a single cinematic cliché. The DVD comes with a slew of music videos, the radio and TV spot, as well as a director's commentary track. But don't be fooled by all the goodies--they're simply a smokescreen to nudge the audience into thinking the film is important and worthy. <I>Caught Up</I> is a goofy mess of contradictions and implausibility. <I>--Paula Nechak</I>
Viewer Reviews
I could say that Im surprised about the positive reviews for this movie but Ive been browsing through Amazon since late 2005 so I have come to grips with people giving bad movies good ratings. Caught Up is bad..really, really bad. It looks like it was done by amateur and with the exception of competent cinematography everything else about it blows.
The story: Darryl Allen(Bokeem Woodbine) is having the worst luck ever. He loses his moronic friend to a high speed chase accident. He meets a mysterious woman named Vanessa Dietrich(Cynda Williams) who gets him in the middle of a scandal involving pilfered diamonds from a Jamaican mobster. He is forced to work for a fruity and shady limousine owner named Wild Bill. He befriends one of the guys at this job who ends up being an undercover cop named Frank Lewdon(Clifton Powell)posing as some unfortunate bum named Herbert. On top of all that he keeps getting shot at by somebody(who I will reveal later in this review).
You know a movie is in trouble when the cameo appearances by Snoop Dogg and LL Cool J are the best thing about it. You know a movie is in trouble when a sex scene involving Cynda and Bokeem is better than the rest of the movie. The acting is awful. Bokeem Woodbine was great in Jason's Lyric, Panther, Strapped, Gridlock'd etc but he stinks here. Its not his fault. The script is a terrible one that causes for him to profusely overact at every scene. The only scene he fared well in was the scene where he talks to his son over the phone. Bokeem's performance elsewhere in this movie was hammy. Now, I love Clifton Powell but he gives the worst performance of his acting career as the unscrupulous undercover Frank Lewdon. The interrogation scene where he spits back in Daryl Allen's face and slaps him around is laughable to a fault. Having Cynda Williams play both Trish and Vanessa made the movie all the more confusing. As a matter of fact that is the biggest flaw of Caught Up: its confusing as hell from start to finish. The film gets hysterically bad and worse as it progresses. It has plot holes big enough to fit the state of Texas in. Let me give you two examples of the huge holes in this story: Vanessa murders Trish and puts her dead body next to Darryl in a motel. Question: How does she know where Trish stays? Plot hole #2: Darryl is constantly getting shot at and in the end it turns out to be the same cop his friend shot in the groin earlier in the movie. Question: how does this wacky cop know where to find Darryl at? These are the few examples of the many plot holes in Caught Up. A movie so bizarre that it makes you wonder if the director and writer was sloshed while he wrote this tripe. There is a reason why Darin Scott fell off the map after this movie. Caught Up is confusing, jumble mess of a movie that adds to the negative stigma attached to low budget movies. Some low budget movies can be good but this movie is not one of the exceptions. Stick with the soundtrack. Its more satisfying than this stinker.
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Caught Up
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