Summer of Sam Review
by "Davis Monroe" (davismonroe AT hotmail DOT com)June 18th, 1999
Summer Of Sam
In the summer of 1977, David Berkowitz aka Son Of Sam, went on a killing spree that lasted over a year and took many young New Yorker lives with it. Director Spike Lee's new film chronicles this event and the ways it touched a community through it's violence and intolerance. It’s Lee’s most vibrant work yet, and it carefully explores each and every downfall Lee holds as a director.
Working on his most detached film, Lee recreates the hot summer of 1977 flawlessly. Watching the film you can smell the stench of the street, the hot cheese burning on a reheated pizza, the musty aroma of a gay porno shop, and most importantly, the delirium of the citizens as a killer walks among them. Lee’s “Crooklyn” and “Do The Right Thing” were more intimately created worlds, but “Sam” is the most believable. We weave around the Brooklyn neighborhoods and watch the Guidos read the papers everyday, monitoring the moves of the killer. They pose and threaten, try to go on as life intended, but everybody is frightened to death of Sam. Their lives are drastically changed during this one summer.
John Leguizamo and Mira Sorvino star in one story about a young married couple who cannot seem to be sexually compatible. It is during the hysteria of Berkowitz that the couple finds themselves experimenting in role playing and sex clubs. Lee’s biggest failure is trying to make the two actors more than one-dimensional characters. They don’t give the best performances of their respective careers. Academy Award winner Sorvino especially seems to be slumming in a seriously thin role that requires nothing from her. Leguizamo is a good comedic actor, and the dramatic roles he takes have been equally as sharp, but the script by Michael Imperioli and Victor Colicchio lacks depth. They leave him hanging in a sea of F-words and impossible improv. You can only take so much of that before you cry uncle.
Lee fares better in the other story of a young punker (Adrien Brody) who the neighborhood suspects is the killer. Refreshingly working outside of rap and jazz, Lee is remarkably accurate with his depiction of the punk movement. He scores major points with a montage set to a Who song that sold the movie to me. It’s the best 5 minutes of the film. As Brody runs around in spikey hair and a counterfeit British accent, he’s the most eye-catching of the picture. I would say it’s the most layered performance in the film. Leading a double life as an ambitious musician during the day, and a nightlife of nude dancing and porno films, Brody is compelling to watch. Lee doesn’t give any of his actors a chance to shine - the neighborhood is really the star of the film - so when Brody makes an impression, that’s something to say.
The biggest failure of the film is it’s length. At 140 minutes, it’s just way too long. The story runs out of steam long before the slick end credits hit. The movie would be better served as a faster, sleeker vehicle. Spike Lee cannot seem to cut a film perfectly. The extra fat that he loves weigh each movie down impossibly. “Summer Of Sam” would be a perfect picture about 30 minutes shorter.
This film is fun to watch. It’s interestingly shot, breathtakingly sexually explicit, and contains a Spike Lee cameo that steals the movie. As risky and challenging summer entertainment, “Sam” faces a battle with “Eyes Wide Shut” for the title
of the Most Refunds For A Summer Film award. Spike seems to be back on track after the unsatisfactory “He Got Game” and I hope he decides to revisit a New York summer in the future. It seems to be his forte.
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