SCREEN IT! PARENTAL REVIEW: SLOW BURN

"SLOW BURN"
(2007) (Ray Liotta, LL Cool J) (R)

Alcohol/ Drugs	Blood/Gore	Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude	Frightening/ Tense Scenes	Guns/ Weapons
Mild	Heavy	Extreme	*Moderate	Extreme

Imitative Behavior	Jump Scenes	Music (Scary/Tense)	Music (Inappropriate)	Profanity
Mild	Minor	Mild	None	Extreme

Sex/ Nudity	Smoking	Tense Family Scenes	Topics To Talk About	Violence
Extreme	Minor	None	Moderate	Extreme

QUICK TAKE:: Drama: Hoping to run for mayor, the district attorney tries to figure out the truth, after hearing stories from various sources, regarding a dead man ending up in his assistant D.A.'s bed.

PLOT:

Knowing he can do a better job for the city than Mayor Godfrey (BRUCE McGILL), district attorney Ford Cole (RAY LIOTTA) is running for that job, and he's traveling around town with reporter Ty Trippin (CHIWETEL EJIOFOR) showing where improvements can be made.

His ace in the hole would seem to be Nora Timmer (JOLENE BLALOCK), his attractive assistant who's been impeccable in prosecuting gang members. The only drawback is that they've yet to catch and prosecute Danny Lewton, the gang lord turned entrepreneur who's divesting his enterprises, including by buying up much of the city's impoverished real estate.

That prosecutorial quest is momentarily suspended, however, when Nora is arrested for the murder of part-time record store employee and waiter Isaac Duperde (MEKHI PHIFER) who was found dead in her bed with a bullet hole in his head. Nora claims it was self-defense, stating he was raping her, but Godfrey has his doubts. As does Luther Pinks (LL COOL J), a former cop who worked with Isaac and tells a different story of his friend's relationship with Nora.

As Ford and his assistant Chet Price (GUY TORRY) start nosing around for the truth, their investigation uncovers various revelations including secret affairs, other criminals such as Jeffrey Sykes (TAYE DIGGS), and truths Ford realizes he should have seen coming before their unexpected arrival.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?: Unless they're fans of someone in the cast, it doesn't seem too likely.

WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: R: For sexuality, violence and language.

CAST AS ROLE MODELS:: RAY LIOTTA plays the district attorney whose run for Mayor is sidelined when his assistant D.A. is arrested for murdering Isaac. Trying to get to the truth, he uncovers surprising revelations, while we learn that he was having an affair with Nora. He uses strong profanity.
LL COOL J plays a former cop who arrives at the police station with a different account of what occurred regarding the murder.
MEKHI PHIFER plays his former coworker in two jobs who became obsessed with Nora with whom he had sex.
JOLENE BLALOCK plays the assistant D.A. who apparently had sex with both Ford and Isaac. With her motives unclear until the end, she might be working an angle on the case or setting up others for a fall. She uses some profanity and may or may not kill several people.
GUY TORRY plays Ford's assistant who helps him in the investigation.
TAYE DIGGS plays an incarcerated criminal who Ford tries to use for info.
CHIWETEL EJIOFOR plays a reporter who's doing a story on Ford.
BRUCE McGILL plays the current mayor who's somewhat pleased that Ford has hit a speed bump in his mayoral quest. He briefly uses strong profanity.; LL COOL J plays a former cop who arrives at the police station with a different account of what occurred regarding the murder.
MEKHI PHIFER plays his former coworker in two jobs who became obsessed with Nora with whom he had sex.
JOLENE BLALOCK plays the assistant D.A. who apparently had sex with both Ford and Isaac. With her motives unclear until the end, she might be working an angle on the case or setting up others for a fall. She uses some profanity and may or may not kill several people.
GUY TORRY plays Ford's assistant who helps him in the investigation.
TAYE DIGGS plays an incarcerated criminal who Ford tries to use for info.
CHIWETEL EJIOFOR plays a reporter who's doing a story on Ford.
BRUCE McGILL plays the current mayor who's somewhat pleased that Ford has hit a speed bump in his mayoral quest. He briefly uses strong profanity.; MEKHI PHIFER plays his former coworker in two jobs who became obsessed with Nora with whom he had sex.
JOLENE BLALOCK plays the assistant D.A. who apparently had sex with both Ford and Isaac. With her motives unclear until the end, she might be working an angle on the case or setting up others for a fall. She uses some profanity and may or may not kill several people.
GUY TORRY plays Ford's assistant who helps him in the investigation.
TAYE DIGGS plays an incarcerated criminal who Ford tries to use for info.
CHIWETEL EJIOFOR plays a reporter who's doing a story on Ford.
BRUCE McGILL plays the current mayor who's somewhat pleased that Ford has hit a speed bump in his mayoral quest. He briefly uses strong profanity.; JOLENE BLALOCK plays the assistant D.A. who apparently had sex with both Ford and Isaac. With her motives unclear until the end, she might be working an angle on the case or setting up others for a fall. She uses some profanity and may or may not kill several people.
GUY TORRY plays Ford's assistant who helps him in the investigation.
TAYE DIGGS plays an incarcerated criminal who Ford tries to use for info.
CHIWETEL EJIOFOR plays a reporter who's doing a story on Ford.
BRUCE McGILL plays the current mayor who's somewhat pleased that Ford has hit a speed bump in his mayoral quest. He briefly uses strong profanity.; GUY TORRY plays Ford's assistant who helps him in the investigation.
TAYE DIGGS plays an incarcerated criminal who Ford tries to use for info.
CHIWETEL EJIOFOR plays a reporter who's doing a story on Ford.
BRUCE McGILL plays the current mayor who's somewhat pleased that Ford has hit a speed bump in his mayoral quest. He briefly uses strong profanity.; TAYE DIGGS plays an incarcerated criminal who Ford tries to use for info.
CHIWETEL EJIOFOR plays a reporter who's doing a story on Ford.
BRUCE McGILL plays the current mayor who's somewhat pleased that Ford has hit a speed bump in his mayoral quest. He briefly uses strong profanity.; CHIWETEL EJIOFOR plays a reporter who's doing a story on Ford.
BRUCE McGILL plays the current mayor who's somewhat pleased that Ford has hit a speed bump in his mayoral quest. He briefly uses strong profanity.; BRUCE McGILL plays the current mayor who's somewhat pleased that Ford has hit a speed bump in his mayoral quest. He briefly uses strong profanity.

CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO

HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE

Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit?
Then read OUR TAKE of this film.

(Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below).

OUR WORD TO PARENTS:

Here's a quick look at the content found in this R-rated drama. Profanity consists of at least 12 "f" words, while other expletives and colorful phrases are also uttered. Sexually related dialogue is present, as is the sight of various sexual encounters (including nudity and movement).

Violence includes several people being shot to death, a large explosion where it's implied no one is hurt, and talk about and a brief flashback showing the beginning of a rape that may or may not have happened in reality. Some of that has bloody results, while those scenes and other material might be unsettling or suspenseful to some viewers.

Various characters have varying degrees of bad attitudes, while drinking, some drug-related comments, and a bit of smoking also occur. If you're still concerned about the film and its appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home who may be interested in seeing it, we suggest that you take a closer look at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content.

For those concerned with bright flashes of light on the screen, there's some of that from flashing police lights in a somewhat dark scene.

ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE: Isaac tells Nora (who's barefoot due to a broken shoe heel) that only crack-heads walk around there barefoot. He later offers to give her a ride, telling her she doesn't want the police stopping and searching her for "rocks" (cocaine or something similar). The crack-head comment is heard again later in the film when we return to that same scene.
We see Isaac pouring wine or something similar while working as a waiter.
Isaac drinks.
Nora reminds Isaac of him having a cousin who was busted for drugs.
Miscellaneous people have drinks at a party/reception.
Nora has wine.

BLOOD/GORE: We see Nora with some of Isaac's blood on her face. We then see Isaac lying dead on her bed, face up, eyes open, shirtless, and with a bullet hole in his head and some blood from that down the side of the bed.
Nora talks of previously having Isaac's blood on her face and unintentionally tasting that.
We see Chet and Ty standing at urinals and hear the related sounds.
We see a few drops of blood in and outside of Nora's house.
We see a few drops of blood on the floor in the police station.
A man grabs a gun, and shoots two cops before Ford shoots him several times in the back, killing him (we see him dead on the floor with a growing pool of blood next to him).

DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE: The film's main criminal (not revealed until the end) obviously has a bad attitude for their criminal doings, and those who work with them also have bad attitudes.
Some viewers might not like when Ford (who's white) tells Ty (who's black) that he can quote him when he says someone "can kiss my black ass."
Nora claims that Isaac raped her.
The comments about Nora being biracial, and then possibly faking being black to get ahead in her profession.
We hear that Sykes is a thief (who's currently incarcerated for his crime).
A black person uses the term "nigger."

FRIGHTENING SCENES: Scenes listed under "Violence" and "Blood/Gore" may be unsettling or suspenseful to younger viewers and/or those with low tolerance levels for such material.
We see a flashback to Nora's claim of Isaac raping her. We see him grab her from behind and drag her away screaming. She then says that Isaac was "on top of me...inside me" and "I couldn't let him live to finish."
Cops enter Isaac's place at night with their guns drawn, only to encounter various life-size, cardboard cutouts of people. They slowly walk around, hear a noise, and then react when a person sets a fire that races across the floor at them. Once outside, they open fire on a fleeing car, blowing out the back window. We later hear they killed the two gang members inside the car with that gunfire.
Ford hears a nebulous message left for him that makes it sound as if something bad is going to occur the following morning at 5 a.m.
Isaac looks a bit hesitant and nervous when pulled aside from a party where some thugs have mistaken him for someone else and pay him money to do some sort of criminal job in the morning.
Some armed guys break into Isaac's place at night as he's in bed with Nora. Isaac gets up and cautiously looks around, as the armed men look for him with guns and flashlights. Isaac creates a diversionary sound (causing one thug to fire in that direction), turns on the TV (causing another to shoot it), and then hits one with something. He then grabs that man's gun and opens fire on the others who return fire. We then see one wounded man on the floor, with Nora aiming her gun at him and firing (we don't see the impact).

GUNS/WEAPONS: Handguns/Automatic weapons: Carried and/or used to threaten, wound, or kill others. See "Violence" for details.

IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR: Phrases: "What the f*ck /is this place/is this, a living room?" "M*therf*cker," "F*ck you" (also said in a foreign language), "Every f*cking episode," "Don't f*cking lie," "Your f*ck-up," "Bullsh*t," "Chickensh*t," "Kick ass," "Can kiss my black ass," "I just thought he was a creep," "Crib" (residence), "What the hell?" "She's a freak," "She stood there smelling like a tangerine, ripe and ready to be peeled," "To save your own ass," "Wigger," "Head-job," "A dumb, unlucky, son of a bitch," "She walked in smelling like mashed potatoes, and every guy within thirty feet wanted to be the gravy," "Nigger," "You're insane," "Piss" and "Let's get the hell out of here."
We see miscellaneous graffiti.
We see that Nora has a tattoo on the top of her butt.
We see a woman who has extremely long fingernails.

JUMP SCENES: The sound of billiards balls suddenly being hit might startle some viewers.

MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE): A mild amount of suspenseful music plays in the film.

MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE): None.

PROFANITY: At least 12 "f" words (1 used with "mother," 1 said in a foreign language), 7 "s" words, 1 slang term for sex ("did it"), 5 asses, 5 hells, 1 S.O.B., and 1 use each of "G-damn" and "Jesus."

SEX/NUDITY: We see Isaac lying dead on Nora's bed, face up, eyes open, and shirtless (the rest of him appears to be under the covers).
Isaac mentions something about love and sex.
We see a flashback to Nora's claim of Isaac raping her. We see him grab her from behind and drag her away screaming. She then says that Isaac was "on top of me...inside me" and "I couldn't let him live to finish."
Luther asks Ford what he wants to know about Nora and Isaac, including "the sex."
Nora wears a top that's mostly bare in the back.
Nora suddenly and passionately kisses Isaac in his car, but then stops and gets out (all to entice him).
About Nora, someone says, "She's a freak" (meaning sexually).
About Nora, Luther comments, "She stood there smelling like a tangerine, ripe and ready to be peeled."
Isaac and Nora slow dance, with him having his hands along the small of her back and top of her clothed butt. They then do some passionate kissing standing, and then on the floor (seen in close-up), with Luther saying those two couldn't even make it to the bedroom. When Ford doesn't believe Luther's story, the latter comments on the African violet tattoo on Nora's "ass." We then see a flashback of Ford dropping Nora's top while she's seated (we see the mirror reflection, but only that of her bare shoulders). We then see a close-up view of him kissing down the small of her bare back to the top of her bare butt where we see such a tattoo.
We see a flashback to Isaac kissing down the small of Nora's bare back where we see the top of her bare butt. We then see Isaac on top of her and see glimpses of her bare breasts as they have sex in the torso and up shot (that shows some movement).
Godfrey reports to Ford that the results of the rape exam came back, and that while semen was found inside Nora, there wasn't any on the sheets or on Isaac. He then adds that she had sex that night, but not with Isaac.
We see a flashback to Ford kissing down the small of Nora's bare back.
Luther comments on Isaac and Nora and their first night after they "did it" (had sex). We then see a flashback to those two in bed, post sex, with her on top as they talk (no nudity).
We briefly see the top of Nora's bare breasts as she gets up, while Isaac is shirtless. He's later seen sitting that way in his boxers while she showers behind a frosted shower stall door that shows the shape of her nude figure, but no details.
We briefly see Nora's bare breasts as she's on top of Ford in bed as they talk. She then has both of them put on half masks, they passionately kiss, and he rolls over on top of her where we see her bare breasts again.
About Nora, Luther comments, "She walked in smelling like mashed potatoes, and every guy within thirty feet wanted to be the gravy."
After Nora tells him to leave, Isaac grabs her, they briefly struggle, and she then pulls and aims her gun at him. He slowly pushes that aside, followed by passionate kissing, heavy breathing, him nuzzling on her neck, and him picking her up with her legs around him until he puts her down elsewhere. We then see him nuzzling her bare belly, her shirt partially being up exposing her bra, and then a side level view of them having sex (we see the side of his bare butt as he's between her legs, with a little movement and passionate kissing).
Ford accuses Nora and someone else of setting him up, commenting about them having his gun and semen (related to an earlier comment).
Nora shows a little cleavage.

SMOKING: Ty smokes a cigar.
We see a still burning cigar in an ashtray.

TENSE FAMILY SCENES: None.

TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT: The comment that surprise is the enemy of the legal prosecutor, that such a person has to know what will go wrong before it does, and that you shouldn't ask a question you don't already know the answer to.
The job of the district attorney.
How people's views of the same event can differ.
Luther's claim that his brain has a short that makes everything smell like food.
The comments about Nora being biracial, and then possibly faking being black to get ahead in her profession.
The comment that if you don't like the face life has given you, just choose another one.
A black person uses the term "nigger."
The question (posed by a black person) of why white people want to suck the black man's blood (meaning black culture), with the answer being it's because they know the black people "have the pulse."
The comment that cities, like people, evolve or die.

VIOLENCE: We see Nora with some of Isaac's blood on her face. We then see Isaac lying dead on her bed, face up, eyes open, shirtless, and with a bullet hole in his head and some blood from that down the side of the bed.
We see a flashback to Nora's claim of Isaac raping her. We see him grab her from behind and drag her away screaming. She then says that Isaac was "on top of me...inside me" and "I couldn't let him live to finish."
Cops enter Isaac's place at night with their guns drawn, only to encounter various life-size, cardboard cutouts of people. They slowly walk around, hear a noise, and then react when a person sets a fire that races across the floor at them. Once outside, they open fire on a fleeing car, blowing out the back window. We later hear they killed the two gang members inside the car with that gunfire.
We see a flashback of a door being shot or otherwise blasted open as authorities storm a place and kick open at least one more door, but don't find anyone there (while armed with various weapons).
After Nora tells him to leave, Isaac grabs her, they briefly struggle, and she then pulls and aims her gun at him. He slowly pushes that aside, followed by them having sex.
Some armed guys break into Isaac's place at night as he's in bed with Nora. Isaac gets up and cautiously looks around, as the armed men look for him with guns and flashlights. Isaac creates a diversionary sound (causing one thug to fire in that direction), turns on the TV (causing another to shoot it), and then hits one with something. He then grabs that man's gun and opens fire on the others who return fire. We then see one wounded man on the floor, with Nora aiming her gun at him and firing (we don't see the impact).
Ford pushes Nora back down into her chair.
Ford pushes Sykes against a wall.
We see a riot in the city where people throw various things at a police van as it pulls up.
There's a large gas explosion in the city (we hear that the residences destroyed were previously evacuated).
Some cops aim their guns at Luther, thinking he's the suspect.
A man grabs a gun, and shoots two cops before Ford shoots him several times in the back, killing him (we see him dead on the floor with a growing pool of blood next to him).
FBI agents hold handguns and automatic weapons on a suspect as he's arrested.

Reviewed April 13, 2007 / Posted April 13, 2007

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