oopes' hits home
N Gritty, guerilla style film documentary 'On the Ropes' opens.
This film was the winner of the Special Jury Award at this year's
Sundance Film Festival. Michigan Theater. 7 p.m.

rirs

Tomorrow in Daily Arts:
U The List returns! See Daily Arts to learn what's happening
during the first weekend of the semester.
Wednesday
September 8, 1999

W

Forgettable 'Deep' fails to inspire

By Matthew Barrett
1aly Arts Writer
Inspired by a true story, but
very uninspiring, "In Too Deep"
is the tired tale of a policeman
who goes undercover to bust a
drug lord and ends up torn
between his job and the new set
of criminals that he associates
with.
Otm a r
E p p s
p 1 a v s
In Too J e f f
Deep Cole, the
c a g c r
r 00o k ie
At Showcase w h o
assumes
the street
identity
of J.
Reid and
p u t s

everything on the line to go
after God (LL Cool J), a nasty
dope dealer. Epps is on the
mark when he's J. Reid but he
tends to ham it up a little too
much in the more ,dramatic
scenes as Jeff.
LL Cool J gets rough and
tough for his role of God (after
playing the God-loving cook in
"Deep Blue Sea"), however at
times it's a little hard to accept
the affable rapper as a hardened
criminal. Despite his violent
actions (such as cutting the
tongue out of an informant) and
tough talk, God just never feels
that intimidating. And although
he always seems nasty, the char-
acter is just on the screen too
often to end up packing much
of a punch. It's also a little hard
to figure how God formed his
vast crime empire, seeing as he

appears to have no one with
much intelligence working
under him.
Rounding out the cast are
Stanley Tucci as Preston Boyd,
Jeff's mentor, and Pam Grier as
a member of the infiltration
squad. After a career-reviving
performance in "Jackie Brown,"
Grier is again reduced to playing
second fiddle, in a small, unim-
portant part that's unworthy of
her talent.
Director Michael Rymer, in
his most high profile picture to
date, struggles to maintain the
narrative pace of the film and
never seems certain of what he
wants. The story seems to
bounce around from one point
to the next with little regard for
the big picture.
The most glaring example of
this is the segment where Jeff is

forced to leave the case and
takes a painting excursion at a
uni ersity to keep a low profile.
This leads to his hooking up
with Myra (Nia Long), a nude
model, and brings the big, bad
undercover cop back down to
Earth. Jeff then must choose
bet ween staying with his love or
going after God. This entire
episode brings things to a virtu-
al standstill and kills any bit of
momentum that the plot had
been building.
Rymer also tends to overdo
things in general, be it with peo-
ple swearing before God at the
baptism of the crime lord's son
or with the over-the-top vio-
lence. No matter how disgust-
ing or disturbing it is to see
something on screen, it
becomes less potent each time
we see it, so by the film's end,

the violent shootouts don't have
the same effect.
As a film, "In Too Deep" fails
on many counts. Things get
started off on the wrong foot
with the decision to frame the
story with sequences involving
Jeff teaching new police offi-
cers. These scenes blow the
film's conclusion and do noth-
ing to serve the story.
In addition, neither God nor
Jeff are developed to a point
where we care about what hap-
pens to them, and as a result the
film's climax lacks punch. So by
the end of the movie, there is
neither suspense nor feeling
about the outcome.
The makers of"In Too Deep"
could have gained a lot from a
quick viewing of "Donnie
Brasco," a superior film that
covers similar territory.


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