Pass Over

(No spoliers) Spike Lee movies are either fantastic 5 stars, or mediocre 1-2 stars, never in between. He has quite the resume, and most of his films are hits. Well, sorry to say but this one is a failure. The opening scene is promising. There's imagery and sound that is classic Spike Lee and I got a very good feeling the first couple minutes. But then it turns in to a filmed stage play that I kept waiting to end and the real movie get started, maybe follow the main characters through their lives. "Oh these guys are aspiring actors, let's see what happens in real life." Nope. The play IS the movie. To add insult to injury, the entire film just focuses on the two main characters who talk a lot of super unrealistic dialogue. Imagine if Woody Allen wrote the most stereotypically bad movie possible, like offensive parody bad. This would be it. I struggled to make it half way through the film and I just couldn't take it anymore. It's a 1 star movie. I gave an extra star for a certain level of creativity that may appeal to some dumb people the same way Woody Allen movies do (never appealed to me), the acting of the two main characters isn't necessarily bad, they did what they could with it, and it is an entire feature film with a cast of only four actors. Not easy to pull off, obviously, because even Spike Lee sure couldn't.

I didn't get it or like it. I like Spike Lee films - most of them, but this was drivel. Tried to be different, but it's been done before.

Really enjoyed the story line and the acting. It does have the same vibe as Scott and Sid.

Life is tough but you have to go for it.

Not the Spike lee film I am a custom to but non the less enjoyed it.

This is not a movie. It's a bad theater play. The actors's performance is ok, but don't expect a storyline, nor good photography, or good music. And it's neither inspiring nor entertaining.

Spike Lee only shot the performance, it's not directed or written by him. So that takes out half the low scores here, which don't even discuss the content.

Pass Over a powerful, funny tragedy, taking the basic setup and some of the absurdity of Waiting for Godot, and applying it to the eternal hellish limbo of two struggling young black man. Spending their lives on an anonymous Chicago block, they're unable to escape the nightly police violence and 'pass over' into the peaceful existence they dream of.

The cast is superb all-round, and even considering it is predominantly a document of the play, there are in fact some affecting and apt editing decisions made by Lee throughout.