Rampart

A great performance does not make a great movie. People tend to forget that sometimes. The best example in recent years is The Wrestler. Although still a good movie and certainly recommendable, its story wasn’t as captivating or as complex as it thought it was. Mickey Rourke was breathtaking and deserved to be standing on that stage during awards season clutching an Oscar just as much as Sean Penn was for Milk, but the movie that surrounded that performance simply wasn’t up to his level. The same can be said for this week’s expanding release, Rampart. Woody Harrelson is terrific in the lead role, even as the movie struggles to find what it is it wants to say. It’s good, but given its lack of awards recognitions, it fell far short of film glory.

The film takes place in Los Angeles in 1999, during the famous LAPD Rampart scandal where more than 70 officers were charged with misconduct that included everything from covering up evidence to unprovoked murders. Harrelson plays David Brown, one of the cops suspected of unethical behavior, who, after being caught on tape violently beating a fleeing motorist after an accident, goes under investigation for his behavior.

All of that is fine and dandy and it creates a perfect backdrop for what could have been a wonderful drama. There’s corruption, violence, cover ups and all kinds of struggles, both internal and external, that the character has to face. With a clear idea of what it was going for, Rampart could have been a intriguing character study, but as is, you never truly get a sense of Officer Brown’s personality, despite Harrelson’s gripping performance (which is one of the main reasons this movie still succeeds), because you never get to see it. Instead, most of his personality traits are simply read off in passing dialogue. At one point, his daughter calls him homophobic, yet he has no interaction with a gay person throughout the entire film. She also calls him a racist, but as far as the viewer can tell, he’s only called a racist because the person he’s caught beating up on camera is black (and you get the feeling he would have done that no matter the person’s race). She even goes so far as to label him as sexist, but no scenes support that claim. In fact, the only four people in the entire world he cares about are female. Sure, when he picks women up at bars, he’s a little forward, but sexual aggression does not equate to sexism.

The only thing she gets right is when she calls him a misanthrope. As he expressly states, he hates everyone equally and, although this fact negates nearly every other label attached to his character, it provides for the most interesting sections of the film. His cold demeanor and brutal tactics don’t seem to stem solely from his reckless disregard for the rules. They seem to have evolved from the practices of those he works with. For instance, after making the news for beating that motorist to the edge of death, he is greeted with cheering and applause by his fellow police officers. Only a select few, mainly the ones investigating him, seem to have a moral compass. His brutal behavior reflects the culture of his job and those around him. As time goes on, his past actions begin to look more like inevitabilities than poor decisions.

Nevertheless, the meaning of all this is left vague. Whatever Rampart is trying to say about Officer Brown, the Rampart scandal or simply police corruption in general gets lost in its own maze of contradictions, but Harrelson keeps the movie afloat, even though his supporting cast isn’t the strongest in the world, especially Ice Cube, whose proven ineffective screen presence is that much more noticeable when opposite a veteran such as Harrelson. One could make the argument that the potency of the supporting characters is what makes a character study, especially one like this where the protagonist’s line of work forces him to interact with others. It’s a completely valid point and a suitable critique of this movie, but Harrelson is so good, he makes you forget all that and appreciate the film for its strengths rather than its weaknesses.

Rampart receives 3/5

Lottery Ticket

I have no idea what I’d do if I won the lottery. I suppose I’d share the money with friends and family, buy a few nice things and give some to charity, which is essentially what happens in Lottery Ticket, the new star vehicle for the rapper Bow Wow, but I doubt my experience would be as hackneyed, clichéd and stereotypical. With an amateurish script from first time screenwriter Abdul Williams and bland direction from Erik White, known mostly for his video music work, Lottery Ticket fails to do much other than exist, despite the slight charm and occasional chuckle.

The story revolves around Kevin (Bow Wow), a shoe enthusiast. Scribbled drawings of them line the walls of his room, his closet is all shoe boxes, he works at Foot Locker and, yes, he even irons his shoestrings. On his way to work one day, passing through his crummy Georgia neighborhood strewn with drug dealers, thieves and morons, he runs into his pal Benny (Brandon T. Jackson) and explains to him that his grandmother (Loretta Devine) wants him to buy her a lottery ticket. Before he does, however, he meets with best lady friend and soon-to-be-love-interest Stacie (Naturi Naughton) for lunch, where she urges him to keep the fortune from the post meal cookie. He does and upon arriving at the convenience store, he buys two tickets, one for his grandma and one for him, using the so called “lucky” numbers from his fortune. The next thing he knows, he has won the lottery, which is upwards of $370 million. Unfortunately, the lottery headquarters is closed for the Fourth of July weekend, which means he has to keep his ticket safe for three days, but soon the neighborhood hears of Kevin’s win and he finds himself in more trouble than he expected.

Lottery Ticket is like the unholy marriage of Do the Right Thing and Friday, two vastly superior movies. While this and Friday are similar in their comedic tones (even going so far as to emulate Chris Tucker’s look in that film), it’s akin to Do the Right Thing in its portrayal of racism and stereotypes. The difference, however, is that Spike Lee’s seminal film was a study on how they can affect individuals and society as a whole. Lottery Ticket is just ignorant.

The negative, disrespectful and damaging stereotypes seep out of Lottery Ticket like water through cracks. From the greedy preacher to the gold digging hussy to the plethora of opprobrious observations of African Americans, the film treats its characters more like things than people.

But perhaps most offensive is the generic storyline told with the wit of a first time stand-up comic who mistakes laughter at him for laughter with him. Lottery Ticket floats by nonchalantly, rarely taking notice of its misuse of comedy. Instead of writing jokes, the filmmakers merely insert well known faces in minor roles or as cameos. T-Pain, Bill Bellamy and Charlie Murphy all appear in the film, the latter of which garnered laughs from the audience assumedly because of his work on “Chappelle’s Show” despite not spouting a single funny line here.

It all leads to an appropriately predictable and clumsy conclusion that seems a better fit for a feel good television movie than a big screen event. While the acting is decent—Bow Wow is surprisingly good, though his versatility is still up in the air since he is given little more to do here than shake his head and look rattled—there’s really not much to recommend.

Millions of lottery tickets are sold each week. Only a small percentage of those who buy one will win, but you can bet on this. Play this Lottery Ticket and you’re bound to lose.

Lottery Ticket receives 1.5/5