Once Upon a Time in Detroit

Joe Blount wrote, directed, and stars in this gritty and grim street drama, that I picked up at my local library. Unfortunately, it's filled with lots of wooden dialogue and acting, but the storyline isn't completely awful and it does have some humor thrown in from time to time. As you might expect from a film of this nature there's an expletive thrown in every other sentence and there's lots of violence.

Blount portrays Bobby Johnson, who's a successful defense attorney who rarely loses a case, but his ego and sarcasm causes him to make some enemies along the way, like the Assistant District Attorney and some crooked detectives he's exposed.

When Bobby's drugged out mother dies (his father was shot before his eyes when Bobby was 14) , Bobby takes in his two teen siblings who had been living with her, to prevent them from becoming Wards of the State,

They're both angry and resentful towards Bobby for avoiding any kind of a relationship with them, as he only would help them with clothes, money, etc, but there was no personal contact. Bobby's brother Kevin (Shawntez Prince) and sister Kim (Krystal Conway) both begin to hook up with some street thugs against, of course, Booby's desires.

When Kim is beaten by her boyfriend, Bobby will react without thinking and assault him, nearly killing him. This act will have Bobby arrested and fed into the hands of those who wants to see him suffer. It will all spiral down into grim tragedy, leading though to some type of "poetic justice" ending.

Overall, this low budget B-movie may appeal to some, but I can't recommend it for a general audience.