Some movies are so well-intentioned it's hard to dislike them. "Straight Out of Brooklyn" is loaded with rough edges, including cliched plotting, strident philosophizing and by-the-numbers direction. But every now and then the film takes a turn that makes it worth putting up with its more plodding elements.
"Straight Out of Brooklyn" also boasts a behind-the-scenes story that is actually more interesting than the film itself. The writer/producer/director of the film is 19-year-old Matty Rich, who lived in the Red Hook area of Brooklyn and based this film on experiences he lived and observed. The fact that such a young man with no training could pull off a project like this at all is quite amazing. The weaknesses in his movie are doubtless as much a result of inexperience as anything else.
The story focuses on Dennis Brown (Lawrence Gilliard Jr.), the teenage son in a dysfunctional Brooklyn family, a frustrated youth who sees his family being torn apart and vows to escape his poverty-ridden life.
His father, Ray (George T. Odom), a down-on-his-luck gas station attendant who blames "the white man" for his troubles, has his own form of escape. Each night he gets drunk, often resulting in a violent rage. After breaking anything in the house that isn't nailed down, he goes after his gentle, loving wife, Frankie (Ann D. Sanders) which sends Dennis and his younger sister Carolyn (Barbara Sanon) into fits of frustration. Meanwhile, their mother is so bruised and battered, she can't get a job.
Dennis spends more and more time with his buddies Kevin and Larry (Mark Malone and Rich), who are happy just to fool around all day, as well as his girlfriend Shirley (Reana E. Drummond), who acts as the voice of reason, encouraging him to go to college.
But Dennis wants to get out of his situation now, and he plots with his friends to rob a local drug-dealer, not realizing the extremes of the repercussions that will follow.
Though Rich's direction here is often rickety at best, there are some natural moments, primarily those with Dennis and his friends just hanging out. And often the acting raises the level of intensity, especially the powerhouse performance by Odom, which is brutally realistic — even when his oratories are less so. And where his character could have been quite unsympathetic, Odom injects a level of pathos that gives him an unexpected depth.
Though "Straight Out of Brooklyn," rated R primarily for profanity, with some violence and implied sex, is fraught with problems, Rich is unquestionably a talent to watch for in the future. If he can do this at 19 with no budget at all, what will he be doing at 25 with a polished script and a real budget?