Okay, Anthony Mackie's character was the least believable character in the film, with his Mr. T thing he had going on. No harden criminal looks, speaks or acts like him in New York City. He just looked like Anthony Mackie in bad make-up.
The Bodega owner was East Indian. They're usually from the Middle east. Big difference. In fact, I never been in a bodega that was worked or owned by an East Indian. Maybe they cast him to say they all look alike? No, they don't and they don't talk alike either.
Jordan Sparks character was a mirage, a figment of their or my imagination. Who was she exactly and what did she want? Her coming around, doing all these nice things only to disappear was a load of crap, or, like I said, she was a mirage. I could live with the mirage thing, actually.
I found it particularly funny when the boy was skating down the street on his skateboard, with Sparks driving beside him, trying to woo him into her car. First of all, it looked like a child abduction was about to happen. But what made it funny was when the Asian kid suddenly appeared out of nowhere behind the boy. It was creepy and, yes, unbelievable.
No housing project in New York City looks or feels like that. It was shot in the projects. In fact, it looked like it was indeed shot in Fort Greene projects in Brooklyn. But the filmmakers eliminated the settings authenticity and replaced it with these extras that looked like they came straight from casting. It looked more like an average complex. The projects are a whole different institution so to speak. Where they lived looks more like a cool-out spot.
I screamed, "Get the *bleep* outta here" when the guy in the Supermarket let the kids go with $90 something dollars worth of groceries, especially not with his lame excuse about his mother's birthday. "And the Oscar goes to?" My a$$.
Oh my God, the part where Mackie is giving the kid money rang false, only to be showered in more dung when the East Indian bodega worker sees this as he is walking pass the housing projects and runs up to choke the boy out. In what housing project in New York City would some bodega worker dare to do such a thing because of a little altercation he had with the boy? And what crew in any project would allow this to happen in front of them, walking away and talking about, "This isn't our fight"? What? They would've mauled the bodega worker just because he is violating their block.
I could go on and on but I have things to do.
Million Dollar Baby Academy Award® Winner for Best Picture of 2004
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Neptunechild87
11 years ago
hmmmm you make some very interesting points that i never even thought of. im from a peaceful surburb in virginia so i really know nothing about ghetto life, [not trying to sound uppity but its true,] maybe thats why i couldnt see the unrealistic things u saw in the film. but reading your list did make me reconsider the quality of this film. i still think its an ok film though. what else did u not like?
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