Cuba Gooding Jr. continues his sad descent from Oscar-winning actor (Jerry Maguire) to walking punch line with this absurd drama...

| Jul 13, 2022

Aaron Spelling may be slapping his forehead, but a few cemetary plots over, 1950's melodrama king Douglas Sirk is smiling.

| Original Score: C | Feb 1, 2009

Thumbs down to a movie of such vile and violent temper.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Aug 25, 2006

Gosh, it's almost too bad/good to be true.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 25, 2006

There's no glee here, just a handful of glum characters stuck in an unending cycle of sex, violence, and heavy-handed preaching.

| Original Score: 1.5/5 | Aug 19, 2006

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.

Full Review | Aug 7, 2006

It ... has an insistently fussy and grandiose production design that mistakes lavish textures, brilliant colors and exotic backdrops for story atmosphere and style.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 4, 2006

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.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Aug 3, 2006

Arresting performances by Helen Mirren and Cuba Gooding Jr. are squandered on a moody thriller that has way too much mood and not nearly enough thrills.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 3, 2006

The movie at heart is just a wallow in ugliness and unpleasantness in the service of nothing.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Jul 28, 2006

A ridiculous movie that starts off completely cracked and just gets crazier and crazier.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/4 | Jul 28, 2006

Daniels offers a lame attempt to do what Quentin Tarantino has frequently done better -- and with far more cinematic artistry.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Jul 28, 2006

It doesn't take long to figure out that Shadowboxer's Helen Mirren, as a cancer-ridden hitwoman, and Cuba Gooding Jr., as her doting stepson, are the most unconvincing team of hired assassins in movie history.

Full Review | Original Score: F | Jul 28, 2006

Who says critics are useless? Now you don't have to see the movie, unless, of course, you derive some satisfaction/pleasure from graphic violence, unforgivably cliched scripts and/or repeated sightings of Gooding's bare bottom.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Jul 27, 2006

One of the campiest, most lushly ludicrous movies to come out in a while.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Jul 27, 2006

Billed as film noir, but because it lacks any subtlety and accentuates gratuitous violence that is more in-your-face than it is implied, the movie is about as noir-ish as Rocky.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jul 21, 2006

Not only will you want to shower after seeing this repellent movie -- the Rose-Mikey sex scenes are especially icky -- you'll feel sorry for the cast.

Full Review | Original Score: 0/4 | Jul 21, 2006

If he earns no other accolades for his directorial debut -- a distinct likelihood -- Lee Daniels deserves some kind of award just for assembling the most bizarrely random cast of this young century.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Jul 21, 2006

If only Shadowboxer had gone for more than an unwavering commitment to imitate better movies, it might have been one for the cult shelves at the video store. Right now, you'll be lucky if you find it in the giveaway bin.

| Jul 20, 2006

A strident and shocking jumble.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Jul 20, 2006