Good idea lost in the noise

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Having the best film title around is about all G has going for it. Richard T. Jones, a hip hop record producer, and Blair Underwood fight over the laughably emotive (and, frankly, not pretty) Chenoa Maxwell. Considering the genre (pseudo-gangsta love drama), I can forgive a lot. My biggest complaint is not that the editing is slipshod, nor that Maxwell is truly awful, nor that Underwood (quite possibly the most attractive man on earth) looks like R Kelly here (and that's not good). It's supposed to be a movie about hip hop - with practically NO HIP HOP! Oh - one of the most memorable unmemorable quotes in cinema this year comes from G: "Happiness is God's orgasm."

Like this review, G could never capture the eloquence of F. Scott Fitzgerald. What made this movie good was the skeleton provided by Fitzgerald, what made this movie bad was the adaptation. This film had its share of corn. What the first half of the century called "melodrama" we call corny. So that is due to no fault of the producer or the screenwriter. At the same time, the timelessness of the story is what will capture the attention of the audience. On some level we all love a little melodrama. Those who have read the novel will enjoy finding the urban parallels. I was even motivated to read the book again after the screening.The enigmatic Gatsby found a counterpart in Summer G without as much mystery. Richard T. Jones is very good at playing the strong silent type. Chenoa Maxwell's Sky Hightower captured the desperate innocence of the classic's Daisy. And Blair Underwood's Chip Hightower was a Tom like no other. There was a little unnecessary comic relief and a few extra characters all building to a crescendo and an almost operatic ending.It's difficult to adapt classic novels. This is not the first attempt for The Great Gatsby. Robert Redford and Mia Farrow attempted in 1974. I found that version very boring. So in comparison G was much better but the corn factor was a little extra. All in all much more good than bad.

...but no cigar. I go into all films with the highest of hopes...and the lowest of expectations. (For the record, I see about 200 films per year. At my own expense. I'm a screenwriter and this is part of my ongoing education.) Most times, I'm disappointed. (However, I've had three great film experiences in the past two weeks and I'm expecting to see two of the year's best over the next three days.)'G' was a disappointment. I'm not going to go into particulars of plot and spoil it for anyone, but what I will say is that if there's any 'connection' between this film and the world of hip-hop, it's a reliance on style. That is, 'bombastic' gets the job done. Now, before anyone accuses me of dissin' hip-hop, I'm not. I wouldn't claim to know enough about the music to have a credible opinion. But certainly the music videos, the marketing, the press, the 'lifestyle' implies that -it would be easy to believe- having the bling does the thing. (Yes, I know the music transcends the attitude.) Here, basic storytelling precepts were thrown out the window and a reliance was placed on the arena of hip-hop with the parties and the cars and the jewellery. There was so little going on in this film...and when something did go on, it was either convoluted, lacking proper motivation, or was completely out of perspective. For the record, the acting was fine. The production values were great. But the script... Yes, there were a couple of funny moments. But there was nothing to either grab onto, or to grab you. The story was not engaging at all. The characters -though all very, very beautiful and handsome- didn't pique your curiosity. You knew where everything was going to end up. And the screenwriter/director should be reminded of the fact that what people say doesn't define their personalities. What they *do* tells us who and what they're like. There was way too much posturing in this film; fine for hip-hop videos, where most everything these days seems to be a parody of itself, but not for a motion picture. The rules are completely different. What this film needed was more exploration of who the characters were, where they'd been and what really was at stake with the decisions that ended up being made, because in the end, it was 'a tempest in a teapot'. A 24 carat gold one, of course. I'm sad that so much effort went into this production and so little passion ended up on the screen. I'm especially sad that this wasn't a better vehicle for Richard T Jones, someone that I think has a lot more potential than Jamie Foxx or Will Smith. Oh, well. Onto the next film, eh?

Andrew Lauren Productions rocks the screen with this sexy and sophisticated interpretation of the American Classic, The Great Gatsby. The cast is simply superb, while jammin' rap seated next to a sultry film noir saxophone elevate the film above its blasé contenders. This new form of Bourgeois Hip Hop embodies familiar issues of love, betrayal, and jealously, giving universal> thematic understanding and sympathy for the characters. And who better to portray the elegant complexity of Gatsby than Richard T. Jones. All in all, `G' presents a sort of filmic intelligence never before investigated, executing racial and socioeconomic devices that purge the Hamptons of it's white-bread communal exclusivity. If you thought Lizzie Grubman caused a stir, check out `G'!