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Reviews
Shadowboxer (2005)
Lee Daniels: Not as Good as Ed Wood
Now we know what a big budget Ed Wood movie would look like. Working from a script by an Academy Award nominated writer, with two Academy Award winning actors and a Spirit Award nominated cinematographer, director Lee Daniels manages to deliver a laughable mess. The story seems to take place in some bizarro world where everyone wears too much makeup, Doogie Howser lives with a grotesque crackhead, and most of the gangsters act like girlie boys. Cuba Gooding, Jr. spends most of the move looking annoyed or embarrassed. Joseph Gordon Levitt, Monique and Stephen Dorff give game performances, but even the great Helen Mirren can't overcome Daniels' ham-handed direction. While Shadowboxer displays all of Ed Wood's incompetence and unintentional humor, it has none of the charm that made Mr. Wood a cult favorite.