Strays

Strays (1997) is a movie that I recently watched on Tubi. The storyline follows three friends that share an apartment in Manhattan. They each live their own lives making ends meet, selling drugs and womanizing. When one of the friends wants to change his lifestyle, not be known as just a drug dealer and have an actual relationship, the other friends push back and call him crazy.

This movie is written by, directed by and stars Vin Diesel (xXx) and also stars Mike Epps (Friday After Next), Suzanne Lanza (Dexter), Joey Dedio (Captain Planet) and F. Valentino Morales (The Fast and Furious).

The storyline for this had some potential with unique storyline, characters and circumstances. The cast delivers solid performances and Mike Epps was hilarious, though painfully underutilized. Vin Diesel delivers a relatable performance and easy character to root for. There were some scenes that were odd, whether it was Diesel turning down ladies begging to have sex with him or showing up to a party with nothing but a wife beater on.

Overall, this movie has some potential and worthwhile writing that is worth a watch. I would score this a 6/10 and strongly recommend it.

Alright, this movie....is for lack of a better word: interesting. It has it's strengths and weaknesses. Strength 1: Vin Diesel looking, a walk through ten miles of broken glass just to drink his bathwater, HOT! I mean, this whole review could be about this fine specimen of man, but I digress. Strength 2: The acting was good. It seemed almost unscripted. The banter between the gang was perfect and very true to life. Weakness 1: THE ENDING!!! What the hell was that? I mean, let them be together! Bad choice Mr. Diesel, but because of those obviously frequent trips to the gym, I am willing to forgive. Weakness 2: Skipping over when they made love. I know it's petty and girlie and even slightly perverse, but I don't care! I wanted to see some skin. So, there's my review. Thanks.

Sometimes the combination of good writing, good direction and good casting collides into a great movie. Writer/Director Vin Diesel stars as Rick, the emotional center to a very strong ensemble of acquired family. The older brother who is finally facing the future, Rick tries to develop a new life while still taking care of his circle of strays. He rebels from his sex-filled nights against Salvatore, a womanizing freeloader and his drug-providing past with Fred, his not so bright cousin. Their unending loyalty keeps the "family" strong, even when he falls in love with a midwestern outsider, Heather. Perceptive and extremely witty writing keeps the pace throughout the film, and his chemistry with Fred, played beautifully by Joey Dedio, is worth the price of the ticket alone.

'Strays' is breakout film for Vin Diesel - after years struggling as an actor going from audition to audition and still not getting any parts, Vin Diesel wrote, directed and starred in his own movie that finally gave him a role in Steven Spielberg's 'Saving Private Ryan' and from there the star was in the making. Although Vin Diesel is best known for portraying one dimensional meat heads and action heroes he has later shown that he got some more acting chops in such films like 'Find My Guilty' or 'Boiler Room', but 'Strays' was were it all started. Don't expect anything on Woody Allen level, but here Vin showing off his acting skills, and his directing skills is not very off. Although 'Strays' starts bit slow, it manages to build up interest in first half an hour (too long, some might say), but we are still left with an hour and ten minutes worth well paced story with characters we start to care about enough to stick to the end.

Vin Diesel followed one other muscular Hollywood legend's path and wrote his own starring role. Vin's effort never reached far in popularity and it never become classic, but with that little film he managed to create another example how one can build his own success.

This film also left me guessing what kind of Vin Diesel the world would know if he would kept directing (he obviously had some talent for that) and writing, rather than going on to play in all those silly triple X and Fast and Furious movies.

Strays is brutally honest and... beautifully executed. It uses harsh words and harsher actions to portray a lifestyle that is real and not sugar coated for the audience. It does not apologize for this but instead asks us to understand the truth being portrayed. A war without blood would not be accurate. These lives without the brutal language would be false and would strip the movie of its commitment to honesty.

The acting, directing, and writing in this movie was done with absolute attention to detail. I deeply enjoyed this movie. It was fresh and new and at times so real and raw I felt like a voyeur. Rick's life unfolds before us and we are taken along on a journey through his emotional awakening. Gracefully it allows us to experience the lives of its characters without judgment.

This in turn gives us the freedom to feel and grow along with them. It evokes emotion and dialogue and is in my opinion a great work of art.