EVEN MONEY

EVEN MONEY A BIT UNEVEN
After LUCKY YOU turned out to be such a dud, I was reluctant to review another movie about gambling. Out of many words of "wisdom" the best comes from Detective Brunner (Kelsey Grammer); "Like I said we're all chasin somethin. More money. More love. What we're really looking for is more life. But sometimes you go looking for more, and you wind up with less. It's a beautiful world. We ought to be satisfied. But the truth is... we all want more." I agree... I wanted more too; like a star filled cast and decent writing with a decent plot. Instead, I got the cast, but they had little to work with. I like the way the movie didn't focus on the gambling, but rather the characters; but only to a point. They had potential, but they also had "been there, done that" stamped on their foreheads. The plot was hard to follow as it tried to bring everyone together with a big red bow at the end, but it didn't. We were left hanging and as it tried to shock us with a reveal, there wasn't left enough to care about.
Rating: Don't bet on this one unless you are really bored... really, really bored...

EL CANTANTE

El Cantante was just not spicy enough. You think salsa, you think spicy... but not this time. I have seen this movie before but the characters had different names: Sid and Nancy, Jim and Pam, June and Johnny, Kurt and Courtney... Hector Lavoe (Marc Anthony) was a man who expressed his pain through his music. He was a troubled, and eventually self-destructive man who managed to shine on stage, sober or high. Marc Anthony, despite being far too skinny for the role, stepped into Hector's shoes and danced effortlessly. When we see him fall, there is no malice and it is easy to sympathize with him, despite his choices. Then there is Jennifer Lopez who plays Hector's "soul mate" Puchi. She looked pretty and... ??? I could have easily seen Rosie Perez in that role doing a much more convincing job. Lopez tried to become Puchi and fails miserably. She has no fire in her eyes when she is angry, hurt, viperous. To hear her swear would be like hearing Jackie Kennedy swear. She says the words, but there is no passion, no feeling, no nothing. She might be "Jenny from the block" but that block feels like Park Avenue. Aside from Marc Anthony's performance, the only thing with true spirit in this film is its music. This was the birth of salsa and it sounded raw and fiery and full of life.

Rating: Entertaining to watch and learn about Hector Lavoe, but not a must see.