Easily the most traditional of the four movies we saw on Saturday, Hour is saved from cliché by the presence of Spike Lee at the helm. The movie’s riffs on New York (not actually in the book, B tells me, though the same writer penned the screenplay) are particularly interesting given this is Lee’s first real post-WTC film.

The addition of talented actors such as Ed Norton and Philip Seymour Hoffman can only add to the film’s appeal, but there’s not that much to start with. There’s not so much a plot as a snapshot of relationships: Ed and his girlfriend, his father, his friends, his city. These are occasionally compelling, but there’s no escaping the fact that none of these people are particularly good or even honorable. That’s not necessarily an indictment, but this is: I’m not even sure that they’re interesting.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 26th, 2003 at 2:53 pm and is filed under Film.. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.