SmugKitZine Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

Ameriatch One of the best films i have seen

Btexxamar I like Black Panther, but I didn't like this movie.

Solidrariol Am I Missing Something?

mibraheem If you're a writer and you're having trouble being motivated, focused or being interrupted by selfish people who don't take your writing time seriously, this is the film for you. If you want examples of two writers who take their writing seriously and put it first, then watch this film. The book is a page turner. I've read it several times, and the movie, very ironically starring Snoop Dog, is just as good.This may be Snoop Dog's best role. I'm flabbergasted that this film isn't a cult classic among writers. A must see for writers or creative types...

Karl Miller This is a movie I nominate as one of the worst movies of all time (and I even liked Ishtar). I've usually liked McDermott's work in the past and I'm a big snoop fan but I was shocked at how woodenly everyone in this movie delivered their lines. If I closed my eyes I could easily have been convinced I was hearing a preproduction meeting where everyone sat around and read the script out loud, having never seen it before. I can only assume that the director, in his directing debut, (after many, many, assistant second director jobs) had a bit too much of the chronic. The camera work is boring, plodding and depressing to watch. I can not believe that anyone involved in this movie allowed it to be put out without getting their names removed from the credits.The only good thing about this movie is that if I have friends over to watch movies and I get tired, I pop this in the DVD player and in a matter of minutes everyone decides it's time to go....

gradyharp THE TENANTS began as a 1971 short novel by the now deceased Bernard Malamud - writer/philosopher - examining the conflicts between Jews and African Americans in the incendiary atmosphere of Brooklyn at the time the book was written. As a novel the story was gut wrenchingly real: as transcribed into a screenplay by novices David Diamond and Danny Green (who also directs) it is more of a cerebral dissertation that gradually erupts into action in the final moments.Harry Lesser (Dylan McDermott) is a Jewish novelist with one book under his belt but currently attempting to finish his 'newest' book ten years into the writing. Convinced that he must complete the novel in the same environment where it was started. he is the sole tenant in a condemned Brooklyn tenement owned by Levinspiel (Seymour Cassel) who constantly tries to 'buy out' Harry's lease so that the filthy dilapidated building can be demolished. Into this atmosphere enters another Black militant quasi-anti-Semitic writer Willie Spearmint (Snoop Dogg) whom Harry befriends, hides, and offers help to the nascent novelist's attempt to write about the death of all white people. Harry's attempts to help Willie lead to conflict, not the least of which is Harry's meeting Willie's girlfriend, the white Jewish Irene Bell (Rose Byrne) at a less than friendly gathering of Willie's militant black brothers and sisters. Willie and Irene are on the skids and Harry gradually falls in love with Irene and they plan to leave New York as soon as Harry finishes his novel. When Willie hears of the assignation and is further critiqued by Harry, Willie explodes and begins the downward descent of not only a delicate friendship but also a competition between writers. The ending 'reveals the slippery nature of the human condition, and the human capacity for violence and undoing'.The actors do their best with a script that is a bit awkward but despite scripted lines that border on preaching they create believable characters. The cinematography enhances the story, keeping the mood dank and dense and primarily confined to the condemned building. The musical score appropriately makes use of the solo jazz trumpet and blues piano to underline the tension and isolation of each of these groundless characters. Though it takes some patience to make it through the cerebral ramblings, the film in the end is worth watching. At least it attempts to recreate Malamud's bizarre look at life in the big city. Grady Harp

dbborroughs Tenants Two writers struggle to complete their books in an all but empty apartment house. They at first help each other and then slowly the tension between them begins to build.This is based upon a Bernard Malamud novel and unfortunately everyone speaks as though they are in that novel. Very little of the dialog is natural, its purple and brimming with shades of meaning. Its as if a college English major with a head full of pretensions wrote the script. It's awful and I found myself instantly immune to anything the film had to say, which is a shame since the film is populated with great performances from top to bottom. Snoop Dog on down are fine form, unfortunately none of them can over come the falseness of the words and the premise.I can't really recommend this movie. While not really bad, its very preachy and pretentious to the point of making you want to walk away. I lost interest less then a third of the way in and had to struggle to get to the end. If you're interested I'd try it on cable, but I wouldn't lay out good money to see it.