25th Hour (2002)

Cornered by the DEA, convicted New York drug dealer Montgomery Brogan reevaluates his life in the 24 remaining hours before facing a seven-year jail term.

Director:

Spike Lee

Writers:

David Benioff (novel), David Benioff (screenplay)

Stars:

Edward Norton, Barry Pepper, Philip Seymour Hoffman

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 4 wins & 14 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Edward Norton	...	Monty Brogan
Philip Seymour Hoffman	...	Jacob Elinsky
Barry Pepper	...	Frank Slaughtery
Rosario Dawson	...	Naturelle Riviera
Anna Paquin	...	Mary D'Annunzio
Brian Cox	...	James Brogan
Tony Siragusa	...	Kostya Novotny
Levani	...	Uncle Nikolai
Tony Devon	...	Agent Allen
Misha Kuznetsov	...	Senka Valghobek
Isiah Whitlock Jr.	...	Agent Flood
Michael Genet	...	Agent Cunningham
Patrice O'Neal	...	Khari
Al Palagonia	...	Salvatore Dominick
Aaron Stanford	...	Marcuse

Storyline

The 25th Hour depicts the last day of freedom for a young man before he begins serving a seven-year jail term for drug dealing. Prowling through the city until dawn with his two close male friends and his girlfriend, he is forced to re-examine his life and how he got himself into his predicament, which leads to a shocking, disturbing finale.

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Plot Keywords:

drug dealing | dream | bar | nightclub | widower | 

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Taglines:

Can you change your whole life in a day?

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong language and some violence

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 January 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

The 25th Hour

Filming Locations:

Granger, Texas, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$5,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$108,865, 22 December 2002, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$13,060,843, 6 April 2003

Company Credits

Production Co:

25th Hour Productions,40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks,Gamut Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

135 min 108 min (TV)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Spike Lee: [basketball] Both Monty and Naturelle played high school basketball; another scene depicts a playground game. Also, Frank is reminded by his boss that they have courtside seats for an upcoming game.

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Goofs

When Kostya is waiting outside Monty's apartment catcalling the women that walk by, he refers to himself as Russian: "I make you half-black half-Russian baby" We know from other scenes in the movie that Kostya is Ukrainian and does NOT like to be confused with Russians.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Monty Brogan: Look at this. He's alive.
Kostya Novotny: This dog, how you call it? Bull pit?
Monty Brogan: No, Pit-Bull. But that's not a pit bull. I don't know, I don't know what he is. I bet he lost somebody some money though. Give me your gun.
Kostya Novotny: Shooting him?
Monty Brogan: Yeah.

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Crazy Credits

A Spike Lee Joint

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Connections

References NFL Monday Night Football (1970)

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Soundtracks

Cavern
Written by Scott Hartley, Richard McGuire, Salvatore Principato and Dennis Young
Performed by Liquid Liquid
Courtesy of Grand Royal

User Reviews

Absolute perfection. It's as great as the book.

I read the novel 'The 25th Hour' before I even knew it was going to be adapted into a movie and I absolutely loved it. I thought it was one of the best books written in the last ten years. Being a huge fan of Spike Lee and Edward Norton, I was extremely excited when I found they were making it into a film.

However I will admit I was a bit skeptical to whether Spike Lee could pull the film off, but when I saw the trailer I had a new found faith in it and I'm sorry to of doubted him. I saw the film yesterday and was just amazed. It's nearly flawless and is almost exactly like the novel which was written by David Benioff (who also wrote the screenplay).

The characters in the film are great. You got Monty Brogan (Norton) who's looking at seven years for drug dealing charges. It's his last day of freedom and he's just trying to tie up any loose ends before he goes. Then you got his two friends, Frank Slaughtery (Barry Pepper) and Jakob Elinsky (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who each have to deal with the fact that their best friend is going away for seven years, but also have their own demons to deal with. You also have his girlfriend, Naturelle Rivera (Rosario Dawson) who must deal with it as well and must also deal with the fact that she's suspect on who could have sold Monty out to the DEA. And finally you have James Brogan (Brian Cox), Monty's father. He's a hard working guy who obviously wished that things didn't turn out the way they did. One last night for Monty to set things straight and also make decisions.

The film sticks almost exactly to the novel, but there are slight differences. Since the novel was written in 2000 and the movie was filmed during 2002, Spike Lee and David Benioff included the mentioning of the attacks on New York and the aftermath, which I applaud Lee for. He didn't cop out and try to ignore it like others. It was necessary to capture the emotion of what New Yorkers are facing and among that, what the characters have to face with Monty going to prison. There are also slight differences and cut outs from the book to make the film flow easier, but I was disappointed with only one thing that the film didn't include. In the novel, Monty constantly thinks of how he always wanted to be a fireman. While firemen references and his father was a fireman are all mentioned in the film, it didn't really tackle Monty's regret of never becoming a fireman, like it did in the book. But the film makes up for that one thing by being terrific all around.

There are some stellar performances here. Edward Norton is always great in everything he plays, but in this film he is just excellent. The 'F**k You' scene he has when he's staring in the mirror is just excellent and I hope he gets an Oscar nomination for this role (he was robbed from one for American History X). Barry Pepper is in his greatest performance yet as the tough guy stockbroker. Philip Seymour Hoffman was great as Jakob, the high school teacher. Dealing with his attraction to his student, Mary (Anna Paquin). Rosario Dawson really made me feel for her and it was great to see more of her in a film. Brian Cox doesn't have a huge role, but he's great as Monty's father. I would also like to give praise to Tony Siragusa for his performance as Kostya. He was dead on with the accent.

So without going on any further, I just have to say that '25th Hour' was really great and is now one of my favorite films of all time.

SCORE: 9 out of 10 (excellent)