On P List of Movie Reviews
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Poetic Justice (1993)
Rate:
8
Viewed:
7/04, 6/25
6/25:
Poetic Justice is a mix of Boyz n the Hood and
Baby Boy with some Jason's Lyric
thrown in.
Instead of Jada Pinkett Smith, it's Janet Jackson who makes her silver screen debut. Showing off an iconic
look with the braids, she has chemistry with Tupac Shakur, and their characters make a nice couple. It's funny
to watch them, along with Regina King and Joe Torry, fighting and making up back and
forth on the road trip from Los Angeles to Oakland with a couple of stops for a family reunion barbeque and an
African-American carnival.
Thanks to John Singleton, the writing is engaging and sometimes humorous. I don't know what the critics were
talking about when they dissed it. It's certainly quality, and I've always liked the film, having seen it
several times since 1993. Some of the poems by Maya Angelou (she plays Aunt June at the picnic) are interspersed.
While there are plenty of familiar faces from Boyz n the Hood,
Tyra Ferrell should be singled out for her great supporting performance. There's a part in the film that's
not explained at all, and it's when the gay barber (Roger Guenveur Smith) took the phone call and had a long
mournful look afterwards. I say he received the bad news of testing positive for AIDS.
All in all, John Singleton talked about the lack of black female characters in the lead and wanted to correct
that, and the result was Poetic Justice.