The whole idea of taking such film noirs as "Double Indemnity" and "The Postman Always Rings Twice" and giving them a modern urban twist sounds quite intriguing. Unfortunately, in the case of "Caught Up," the execution is poor. First issue: the casting of Bokeem Woodbine as the lead. Woodbine has been in other urban films like "Menace 2 Society" and "Jason's Lyric," and he wasn't bad in some of those supporting roles. He just isn't cut out for being a leading man. I can tell he wasn't perfectly comfortable with carrying the film on his own two shoulders. The problem with his flat performance is that his face rarely changes expression and he delivers every line like he's constipated. His emotions don't come naturally to him, and as a result his performance is totally strained. The rest of the cast is pretty good. Cynda Williams is beautiful to look at. Jeffrey Combs has an amusing cameo. The script is ludicrous, as it's full of way-too-odd coincidences and implausible plot twists. I can tell that the director Darin Scott was very passionate about this project and very much inspired by those great noirs of the past, but his direction is over-the-top. He explains, in his DVD commentary, that he used a hyper-realistic approach since it's narrated by the main character and people tend to embellish details when telling stories - especially ones as spectacular as this one. His reasons are understandable, but the film still didn't work for me. If there's anything good I have to say, "Caught Up" is worth some good laughs - mind you, you'll be laughing at it, rather than with it.
Review of Caught Up
