Roxxy

Vincent N Roxxy is a crime thriller from writer-director Gary Shultz and stars Emile Hirsch and Zoe Kravitz in the titular roles with the supporting cast made up of Emory Cohen and (briefly) Kid Cudi. The story sounds a helluva lot better on paper than how Shultz constructs it. Instead of grasping on to the story and themes at hand such as toxic masculinity or uncontrollable rage, Shultz gives a bare bones effort with a script that it is so poorly written, it felt like a first draft.

First off, the film is 106 minutes and feels a half hour too long. The beginning starts strong and bombastic, introducing our titular characters through a car accident in very pulpy fashion. Then the film tries its hand at being a film grounded in realism for the remainder and it fails just as bombastically as it starts. Hirsch plays his role so much like Gosling from Drive that it is hard not to assume Shultz had the film on repeat during the writing process. Vincent is a cold man prone to violent outbursts much like Gosling's character in that film. It worked for Drive, it fails miserably here. Zoe Kravitz is slowly becoming one good actress and for every step forward there is bound to be a step back somewhere and that is where this film comes in. Her performance is lucid and barely there, so much so that you wonder if she was just doing this for a paycheck. No matter how often we can fault the actors, the real culprit here is Gary Shultz.

The screenplay is so under-cooked that it really makes me wonder if this was a first draft and, if so, why the hell was it allowed to be shot? It is an answer I doubt we'll ever know so we can only assume. The script works against itself at every moment it gets. First we're with Vincent and Roxxy as they talk about sticking together despite not knowing one another and then Vincent (who is supposed to be street smart) tells this woman, who was just accosted by some pretty angry gangsters about money she owes, where he is heading and living. It all felt so ridiculous and ill plotted that I almost gave up after seeing that scene come in so early in the film with barely any character development. Furthermore, Shultz then takes Vincent on his own for awhile. He gives him a couple subplots that go nowhere and then sets him up for the finale to finish the main story that was left abandoned after the first 10 minutes. All in all, it's horribly plotted and the ending is one of the worst in recent memory. I'm all for some dark endings but ones that have points and this one didn't. Honestly, this is an ending that is violent for the sake of being violent and is a half- assed attempt at being edgy and dark. It all translates the same: it is rather banal.

Overall, Vincent N Roxxy is one of poorest written films I've seen in recent memory. With Refn's Drive serving as a painfully obvious homage to the film, it is hard to take any of it seriously especially when none of the actors seem like they are into it in the first place. While I do credit Shultz for sticking to his guns, he really should have looked into a rewrite or two before settling on this very murky and muddled vision of something that could have been great.

Just watched it on TV. What a terrible B-movie and time waster.

I think if Emile was paid by the word he is the highest paid actor in Hollywood ever. And can we stop saying Zoe Kravitz is a good actress? She's not, she super attractive and exotic looking and most of her career is wearing a crop top and having her dreadlocks cover her face. Emory Cohen as 'JC' his brother, sucks all the air out of the room and literally cannot STFU.

Also, this movie sux. You've seen it and all the stereotype characters in it a million times. I think the only thing that's missing is a redneck stripclub.

Vincent N Roxxy is an interesting reboot of 'Boy meets girl', this time around taking place in the hinterlands of Louisiana. The settings feel authentic and so do the performances of the primary actors Emile Hirsch, Zoe Kravitz, Zoey Deutch, Emery Cohen and Kid Cudi.

The film begins in the big city then quickly moves out into the country, and many moments have a city versus country feel, reflected in both the behavior of the principals and the colorful but rough nature of the country locales, plus the finale that I promise not to spoil.

Hirsch is emerging as one of the more reliable workman of his profession and his performance has all the needed angst and depression that his role calls for. Kravitz is excellent (isn't she always) as the city girl who encounters a new flavor of life but finds that some things continue to taste the same, city and country. Kid Cudi, in just a little more than an extended cameo is genuinely menacing and worthy of our scorn.

As a secondary couple Deutch and Cohen really shine. Both continue to emerge with real heavyweight chops in supporting spots. Not only does Cohen look like a natural to play Hirsh's brother but he offers his character in energetic counterpoint to Hirsh's subdued and 'James Deanesque' troubled young man. (I caught Cohen in 2015's Brooklyn and Stealing Cars, as well as 2016's Detour, and truly enjoyed his work each time.) Zoey Deutch has a small but significant role as a country girl and she almost perfectly fits her scenes, especially at her 'tavern' work place. In a short period of time she has presented herself in essential, disparate projects like this film and 'Why Him' and offered the sort of performances that show real range.

I believe that all five cast members cited are still ascending in stature and will probably have many years of memorable offerings. Though Hirsh probably outranks the other players in professional accomplishments I feel he, too, has great stuff before him.

This sort of love story on a near indie budget is a nice place to see a cast working together, demanding solid effort by all so that the project succeeds. In short order you get to know enough about the characters so that they can manage the whole illusion that such a small drama must become, in order to retain viewer interest.

In such a film I always feel there will be a few dangling script issues and maybe minor continuity errors, but here none of that gets in the way of your meeting the characters before you and becoming interested in them and their lives. Though there is a certain predictability to the ending there are a few major shocks that will last with you, after you are finished viewing. You will remember this film.

The soundtrack, credited to Questlove, is well-integrated for the most part and has a few songs in particular that seemed near perfect, based on the action in the foreground. The 'official' trailer has a representative mix of song samples from the movie. It's good enough that it has me looking for a more, in depth summary of the score. I'm still on that project.

I read a criticism of the movie the other day that was just a little too bizarre. The author insisted that the characters and the scenes were simply not believable. Coming from an area that still has a fair amount of 'rural' living going on I can assure one and all that there are people just like Vincent, Roxxie, and all the others in the film, out and about. In fact, there isn't a short supply of those types.

Without spoiling things I must add that there are some moments of extreme violence. If that sort of thing troubles you then you might steer-clear. However, there are many more scenes with crisp acting and a warmly-filmed landscape that will feel as foreign to many 'city' people as the Dark Side of the Moon.

One of my favorite moments takes place on a Ferris Wheel and there are real 'sparks' between Hirsh and Kravitz, the right kind of 'sparks'. A moment of humility between the brothers, near the conclusion also has an almost sweet sort of warmth to it without an over-do. The last five or ten minutes are gripping and surprising enough that you feel the hand of a professional director.

This is a very good movie. It burns slowly and takes a few twists and turns, some unexpected and some unrealistic, but it's movie land and pretty much anything goes. Hirsch and Kravitz (Vincent N Roxxy) are a sweet couple seemingly thrown together, by fate, but as it turns out there's more to it than that. Vincent is Roxxy's saviour and he takes her to his brothers place in the sticks away from all the bad things in the city. Loves young dream is a rocky road however and when their pasts catch up with them the sparks start to fly. Kravitz is excellent as the seemingly vulnerable Roxxy and Hirsch does a decent turn as saviour boyfriend Vincent. There's not a lot going on script wise and the dialogue is restrictive, but it builds nicely to an explosive finales.