Crown Heights

To be fair, a good intentioned, but laughable and superficial effort to try to find common threads between Chasidim and Black street youth in Brooklyn. Portrayal of each group is unrealistic and simultaneously --and paradoxically-- grossly stereotypical. The depiction by the actors of the Jews was tailor made for an audience that knows nothing about Chasidic Jews; their portrayal was not, not believable. All the clichés are touched upon: Jews are exclusive; blacks are oversexed and violent. But don't worry because Rap Music is gonna save the day by uniting Jews with Black, teaching all to "increase the peace." Puh-leaze. Dialogue is strained and awkward. Storyline shallow and amateur, but again, topical and well intentioned. Honeslty, I cringed watching this filmed-in-one-week movie, but watched out of curiosity -- the way one watches an automobile accident. Painfully, someone thought enough of this to present it as a film. But there is one memorable moment: the protagonist black boy calls the protagonist Chasid, "Boychick" in friendship. By the way, shouldn't this movie have been done like ten years ago? -Jon