Red Hook Summer

Spike Lee seems to have reverted to his film student days with this messy bit of digital cinema that recalls his sloppy Crooklyn more than his sublime Do The Right Thing (even though his character Mookie from that film makes a cameo appearance here). While the first half of the movie is unforgivably unfocused and mundane, Lee introduces more narrative complexity in the second half--which makes me wonder if I would appreciate what he's trying to accomplish were I to watch the film a second time. But Red Hook Summer is so tedious that even I don't want to see it again, which is too bad, because Lee's take on religion, class and regionalism is interesting.  I wish he'd write another movie about the same themes with a collaborator who wants to develop a proper script instead of just play around with a camera, which is what Lee’s lesser work always feels like.