Charming and brutal

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

The distortion doesn't complement anything...and certainly doesn't communicate the blatant literal attempt it tries to. It just takes away from the wonderfully acted and designed set that captures living in the midwest 1970s so well...that now the distortion takes away from it.The distortion is a really bad idea because your audience is immediately distracted by the first thought as to 'What is wrong with the projectionist?" Next thought is you are now well aware you are in a theatre watching a possible technically error. Thanks for reminding me I'm in a movie...watching a movie....because that's the goal of all filmmakers. At that point, your train of thought has taken you away from the action happening in wonderful detail in the actors expression and set design you fail to miss this "blatant literal" attempt to tell your audience that they can't possibly understand this change in the character's environment so now "I'm going to help you because you are too stupid by the 40 minutes of Brooklyn living to see the difference between the two environments!" Either Spike felt his actors were so bad or his audience to stupid to get it. Sorry Spike...most of us were exposed to slumber parties in other households as children where the culture and environment was vastly different from our own. We didn't need distortion glasses then to know our environment changed...trust me..your audience get's it and would've better appreciated your art departments, wardrobe's work and the actors performance better without the distortion. Do you really need to be that literal? Are Brooklynites that stupid to get and you put it in there for them? Or do you think people in the suburbs would be too stupid to get it? Really? Any chance of releasing a "Fixed Crooklyn" version so that every time I see that scene....I don't feel like I'm being spoon-fed a narrow viewpoint of a Brooklynite that never got out of their house for a slumber party in the 70s or couldn't fathom other lifestyles? I'm sorry..I don't know about the Brooklyn school system but we had geography and social studies in Middle School. We were taught about other cultures way back in the 70s. I would have expected you would've known about the other world outside your neighborhood by the time you made this movie.The distortion effect is an epic fail on really one of your best family drama films. It's like a turd in the middle of this great Brooklyn experience of a story.Other than that...it's a great movie with a lot of replay value. If you ever watch Soul Train back in the 70s or been to a slumber party.....this movie captures the period in a very realistic way! Too bad the distortion takes away from the reality of the suburb scene. I wonder why he didn't distort any of the reality of the Brooklyn scenes? I would think someone coming to Brooklyn from the burbs would expect to see all their movies shot in Brooklyn to have a distorted effect in their local theatres. Hmmm...call me stupid!!!

Just watched this Spike Lee Joint on YouTube. It's largely about a family in Brooklyn during the early '70s based on Spike's siblings and parents during that part when he was growing up there. The mother Carolyn (Alfre Woodard) is the breadwinner as a teacher who constantly gets upset whenever her kids-Clinton (Carlton Williams) who is based on Spike himself, Wendell (Sharif Rashed), Nate (Chris Knowings), and Joseph (Tse-Mach Washington) disobey her orders. The same goes to her musician husband Woody (Delroy Lindo) who no longer is willing to compromise himself for his autonomy. Only her daughter Troy (Zelda Harris) seems to mostly escape her wrath. She's based on Spike's real-life sis Joie Susannah Lee who plays Aunt Maxine here and helped write the screenplay with Spike and other sibling Cinque. There's plenty of drama and some laughs like when Troy goes down South to visit her Aunt Song (Frances Foster), Uncle Clem (Norman Matlock), and cousin Viola (Patriece Nelson) especially when Aunt Song inadvertently offends Troy in commenting on her hair. That scene is shot in a distorted way that is pretty alienating though whenever it's on Troy and Viola, there's still some joy to be had especially when The Jackson 5's "ABC" is playing. In fact, several of the songs from that period evoke such a nostalgia on my part that when the YouTube upload went silent because of some copyright infringement on the part of Warner Music Group because of some song that they own, the subtitles took care of what was playing and I was at least able to imagine how the scene played with the music. Anyway, I liked this movie despite some of what I cited and recommend it highly. P.S. Lee himself appears as Snuffy and familiar faces like RuPaul, Isaiah Washington, and Vondie Curtis-Hall as Uncle Brown are also fun to look for. And I dedicate this review in memory of the late Don Cornelius whose "Soul Train" plays as part of the ending.

I am a long-time Spike Lee fan and I saw Crooklyn when it first came out. I just watched it again. Seventeen years later, my love for this movie hasn't waned. This is a simple movie about regular human beings living ordinary lives in a specific time and place fondly remembered by Spike Lee (and those of us who grew up in large urban centers in the 70s). It's not in your face, it doesn't preach, it doesn't alienate. It just is-and it's something everyone can relate to who has been a sister/brother/child/parent/close relative/kid enjoying his or her summer. Because of that, I believe this movie is Spike Lee's crowning achievement. Indeed, I think it's a movie that could be envied by other film makers who attempt "slice of life" movies.

I may be very young but, I love this movie. It's funny, I understand it, and it has a bit of drama and attitude which I love. I've seen it a million times and it never gets old. It's one of my most favorite movies. How could anyone not like it? I don't know much about spike lee, but he did a great job. I could really relate to the movie. Anyone who thinks differently is DEAD WRONG! You didn't hear it from me. Any comments about my opinion, e-mail me @ angil1994@yahoo.com. Because I want to hear exactly what you have to say. Right now, I'm watching Crooklyn actually. And like I said, it never gets old. No matter how long it's been out. I'll still love it. Like I said, e-mail me(angil1994@yahoo.com)