Bis zum Hals

WAIST DEEP follows a tried and true formula: Ex-con's son is kidnapped by his ex-partner in crime, a ransom is demanded, the ex-con works diligently to put together the ransom while doing his best to undermine his old partner, and there's a final showdown between them. The kid is cute, the ex-con is an impressive slab of beef, the former partner is suitably menacing and fugly beyond belief, and of course there's a pretty female to help things along. The formula works most of the time, but the movie is so predictable that in the end I asked myself why I bothered to rent it. There is a heckuva car chase near the end that sort of makes up for a dull middle. The movie, which could have just as easily starred Bruce Willis or Mel Gibson in his prime, clearly was aimed at an urban audience even though it was heavily marketed as a mainstream flick. That's why I rented it. It could have been a lot worse, I suppose.

Saw this last night at the L.A. Film festival. Only went because it was FREE, but was pleasantly surprised at the pacing. There were implausible moments and a cheesy drawn out cell phone conversation..in the middle of a police chase, with a hackneyed "Shawshank Redemption"/ "Thelma & Louise" ending, but Tyrese Gibson and Megan Goode draw you in and make you want to see where this thing goes. They look great and had chemistry.

(Megan, it's time for you to do more films like "Brick". I think you have the range to break out in some different roles outside off 'hood flicks)

Kimora Lee Simmons is hilarious in her cameo. She may need to do a movie herself! Just check out the way she curls her lip when she gets an unwanted man in her house. I will have to add her performance to my collection of "Great Actor Scenes that stand out by themselves"

There are clichés galore, and one scene I found insulting to elderly black women. (Megan's character calls a grandmotherly-looking black woman the "B-word". It was funny in an earlier scene where Megan Goode's character is called one off screen for holding up traffic, but it doesn't work when used on an old woman in a bank. Kasi, you shoulda told Vondie to drop that line!)

Lastly, I always laugh when I see so-called "gangsters" making money hand over foot with their hustling,but they never move to nicer areas? You have thousands of dollars stashed in safety deposit boxes and $250,000 worth of jewelry, and you still live in a jacked up house in the worst parts of L.A.? Dumb.

Hunter Hall who plays the kidnapped son is a cute little boy, but his acting was stilted and unnatural in several scenes to the point of being distracting. But he sure does look like his momma! (Kasi, you need to be in more movies! We miss you!)

This movie is strictly popcorn fun. As Mr. Vondi Curtis Hall stated before showing his film last night, "This is a movie, not necessarily a film" in the artsy-fartsy sense. Most critics have been complaining that it's hodge-podge of various genres, but it works for what it tries to do: tell the journey of a single-parent father trying to save his son at all costs. How often do you get to see that? **(And the brother survives? Shee-itt!)

Lessons learned from this flick? You can shoot and kill a handful of bad people, rob empty houses in the Hollywood Hills because a half naked girl can fool police, and you can drive to Mexico and live happily ever after in a Malibu-styled beach house without a passport, just a bag full of money. Let me get my glock!

I took this movie home the other day not really expecting to see much of a movie but I was like what the hell, I'll give it a try and was pleased.

This movie didn't have the most original plot. It was just a father trying to get his kidnapped son back. Tyrese Gibson played the father who would very much rather forget his past and jail time so he set a good example for his kid. I thought Gibson did a very good job as he teamed up with the very attractive actress Meagan Good. Also in the movie was Larenz Tate. Tate did not impress me. It seemed like he just re-enacted his role in Crash.

Your not going to see a masterpiece after watching this film. Your not going to get blown away by the acting even though it was above average. They're some hard-nosed scenes such as when I guy gets his armed chopped off for not paying back the money. But the movie seemed to have heart and I believe it was directed very well. Such scene is when Gibson's character is running than switches to first person as the director, Vondie Curtis-Hall, has the camera shaking constantly to give it a more dramatic feel.

The relationship between Good and Gibson's character grew way to fast but still was par. There are some moments that are far fetched but the movie was still very entertaining and intense and I believe it gets a 7.5 rating (rounded to a 8).

Acting 7, editing 6, directing 8, plot 6.

OK, so i saw an advanced screening of this movie today and i have to say that it wasn't bad. I really enjoyed Tyrese's performance in the film; you could tell right off the bat that his character really cared for his son and would do anything to get him back. From the very beginning you could tell that this movie would have non-stop action and that started at the very beginning. Nothing about it was boring or drawn out, it got straight to the point.There were some things that i didn't like- like Meagan Good's performance. She played your average chick on the corner working for some guy who kicked her ass every time she didn't pay up; kinda like a pimp thing. Her big dream was to leave the city and to go to Mexico once she saved up some money. At first it seemed as if she was going to just spoil the movie just by shaking her ass the whole time in front of Tyrese just to make some dough, but when she found out what happened to his son they connected on a deeper level. She ended up helping throughout the whole movie with trying to get his son back. At times the movie did seem a little predictable because it was so fast paced, but there were some laughs that the whole audience shared. There is a lot of crime and down right cruel things being done in this movie, but over all the movie wasn't bad. The game's performance in this film was very believable; at times i flinched whenever he came on the screen because i was scared of what he might do.He doesn't have as much screen time as do Tyrese and Meagan good do, but he makes it worth while. To sum this all up, this movie was worth seeing, it was very entertaining, enjoyable, and funny.

OK, my Mrs wanted to watch it for a few days but I thought it was going to be the usual muscle bound stuff which is synonymous with a Tyrese title. But was I wrong. The film captures you from the off with good sounds and fast moving filming. The story is predictable but enjoyable and left me with a nice taste in my mouth. Unfortunately it has taken Tyrese almost 20 years from his coke advert to finally make a film in which we see a little talent. In closing I was very happy because with a film like this you can only score on action but they were some strong roles (not award winning but there hasn't been much of that lately anyhow).