mdjohnson-73266

I gave it 5 stars because I appreciate the family's close knit inner relationships and that the protagonist (Epps) was cast opposite a dark skinned black woman as his love interest, a rarity. This film could have been so much better if someone other than Michael Ealy, who appears sleepy and bored throughout the film, had been cast as the detective, and the role was realistically portrayed. It was the most lazy and sloppy detective "work" I have ever seen on film. There were so many avenues and opportunities to catch the antagonist, but Ealy's character wasn't interested in doing any work. His character's lack of motivation and commitment to solving the murders was the weak link in the film.

It doesn't matter what the context, you can damn sure count on black male filmmakers to always cast bi-racial women as black women. In this film, Asa Phillip Randolph's wife, Lucille, is bi-racial. Leon Frey's wife is bi-racial and so is the young waitress who is Rocky Carroll obsesses over. Townsend pulled the same BS in Five Heartbeats by casting Carla Brooks as a black woman.

Leave up to a black man, who is always screaming racism, to cast a bi-racial woman as the romantic lead, which is the case in every movie they produce. This is simply more trash in which four "black" men, who are obsessed over anything not black, pursues a mixed race woman. What an incredibly sick and pathetic message to send to black girls.