The raw materials for a gutsy, gritty, fearless, fascinating thriller are here, but they amount to some intriguing individual parts and not a satisfying, cohesive whole.
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08/26/07
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Shadowboxer (2006)
20 %
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 55
Fresh: 11
Rotten:44
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 Jr. (MEN OF HONOR) and Helen Mirren... [More]
Starring: Cuba Gooding, Helen Mirren, Vanessa Ferlito, Macy Gray
Director: Lee Daniels
DVD Info
Reviews for Shadowboxer
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
Despite assembling a talented cast and crew, Daniels is stymied here by a script that takes itself far too seriously.
03/01/07
That most wonderful of films, the kind that works on every level, but can't be easily pigeonholed.
12/30/06
Mirren and Gooding are interesting -- and sexy -- to watch together. Once she leaves the film, the picture loses a bit of its uniqueness.
12/30/06
The 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
"Shadowboxer" is supposed to be concerned with how parents' lifestyles can be passed down to their children, but that is too simplistic here. The film, instead, is more a showcase of naked bodies, gory scenarios and over-the-top performances.
09/02/06
It's all so cliched in terms of personalities and full of such unbelievable situations that it's often downright laughable. And not in a good way.
08/25/06
There'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
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 Critic Much of the movie is just too unintentionally goofy to take at face value
08/06/06
The title [is] an apt metaphor for the movie, which ultimately bobs and weaves a lot but ends up all empty air.
08/05/06
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
The casting seems to be an attempt to manufacture interesting characters, instead of depending on the script to do that.
08/04/06
Should you go? Not in public. But with a group of like-minded friends and the DVD, there might be circumstances under which you'd find it hilarious.
08/04/06
It ... has an insistently fussy and grandiose production design that mistakes lavish textures, brilliant colors and exotic backdrops for story atmosphere and style.
08/04/06
I'd sooner sit through 32 hours of Congressional committee testimony about imported yarn than watch Shadowboxer again.
08/04/06
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.
08/03/06
Latest News for Shadowboxer
July 20, 2006:
Critical Consensus: "Lady" Is All Wet; "Ex" Is Not Super; "House" Is Scary, "Clerks" Is Funny
This week we've got some magic in ordinary dwellings (M. Night Shyamalan's "Lady in the Water" and "Monster House") and some funny couples ("My Super... More...
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SHADOWBOXER is Now Playing in the USA, and expanding weekly ...
by: Darko, Donnie 8/10/06
by: Darko, Donnie 8/10/06
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