O Inquilino

I ended up watching The Tenants with my close friends who rented the movie solely based on Snoop Dogg's appearance (a passionate fetish of theirs) on the cover. Understandably, I did not expect much. I thought the movie would include the typical array of Snoop Dogg related behavior and imagery often seen in cliché rap videos. However, my generalization was for the most part wrong. Unfortunately, this didn't make the movie any better.

Most would describe the movie as a dark serious drama, whereas I would describe it as a dark seriously drawn out boring drama flick. The film tells a story of two struggling writers (Dylan McDermott and Snoop Dogg) who are trying to create their own separate masterpieces. Their polar opposite lifestyles end up forming an unlikely but highly complex and neurotic friendship. This friendship moves throughout the entire movie like a wild roller-coaster - most of which is contributed by Snoop's character - reminiscent of someone with a severe case of split personality disorder. And although the movie is a drama, the acting - which has a morbid and serious tone - from Snoop and company was more comical than anything else.

I wouldn't recommend this movie for those who are attention impaired because this one has a lot of dialogue and a lot more dialogue after that. There are some mediocre conflicts, but even they are mostly bogged down with more dialogue. The end, however, jumped at me with a sudden surprise. It was a little bit twisted, somewhat unexpected and a perfect way to wrap up a movie that needed to end. While watching the ending credits I couldn't help but picture the director thinking, "Oh God, how the hell do I end this snoozer." By the way, the director laid out carefully planted hints and subtleties leading to the climax - all of which are more visible than Waldo in a crowded street of midgets wearing nothing but black sweaters.

As a man who enjoys the raw power and honesty of a Snoop Dogg performance, this movie was perfect for me. My friends and I rented the movie solely because Snoop Dogg was on the cover, and Snoop did not disappoint. The movie is filled with Snoop intensive scenes where he is afforded the opportunity to display his dominant personality.

Despite Snoop Dogg's immaculate performance, other actors within the movie, as well as the story itself contained some unattractive qualities. Regarding the lead actor, Dylan McDermott's portrayal of Harry Lesser was too dramatic and unrealistic. I cannot find that kind of depression and seriousness in my real life experiences. The depressive nature of his character may in fact be the fault of the author and not the actor. At many times, the characters of The Tenants would act irrationally and contrary to real life behavior.

Overall, the story and the actions taken by the characters were not as believable as I would have liked them to be. Nevertheless, I have yet to see a bad Snoop Dogg performance in any of his films. I stand by my initial instincts to rent the movie because he was on the cover.

Tenants Two writers struggle to complete their books in an all but empty apartment house. They at first help each other and then slowly the tension between them begins to build.

This is based upon a Bernard Malamud novel and unfortunately everyone speaks as though they are in that novel. Very little of the dialog is natural, its purple and brimming with shades of meaning. Its as if a college English major with a head full of pretensions wrote the script. It's awful and I found myself instantly immune to anything the film had to say, which is a shame since the film is populated with great performances from top to bottom. Snoop Dog on down are fine form, unfortunately none of them can over come the falseness of the words and the premise.

I can't really recommend this movie. While not really bad, its very preachy and pretentious to the point of making you want to walk away. I lost interest less then a third of the way in and had to struggle to get to the end. If you're interested I'd try it on cable, but I wouldn't lay out good money to see it.

This movie sticks out in a good way. At first I thought Snoop was going to be a little cheesy,but He wound up winning everybody in the room watching it with me. I remember Snoop's in a mysterious room, and he just keeps writing. It appears or common sense would tell you that he's wasting his time, but the movie chugs along. It turns out he doesn't and Snoop then develops a cool relationship with Dylan McDermott. This movie was pretty much straight to DVD, and I thought it was a shame. In fact it was in the two dollar bin at blockbuster in a corntown, but we all needed to do something on a Friday night besides staring at the wall. I will say It's my favorite performance from McDermott and I really enjoyed Snoop in this role.

The movie wasn't bad as everyone says, but it could of been made a little better, casting wise I do say. BUT... look at the way the movie LOOKS, the colors are very crisp and MAKES the picture stand out for that reason. The person or persons involved in that did an OUTSTANDING job. 10 out 10 for that, and as a filmmaker I would love to hire the people who were in charge of that. I sat through the film looking at it from that angle. It was done beautifully, it looked like it was shot on film (which it was I bet)but in the 70's era. I can't stress that enough, it looked so damn amazing, I began to think that it was shot in that era. Great job, bottem line.