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Highly Overrated But Still Good

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

This is one of the most enjoyable films i have ever seen.

I love this movie. It reminded me of when I was a young girl growing up in the 70's. We should have more movies like this one. Good work Spike. I watch this movie with my two children who was born in the early part of the 80's and they enjoyed it as well, asking me all kinds of questions,Brought a smile to my face as I told them about me and my siblings growing up in the 70's. You can actually see how times has change, making up your own games and finding some positive things to do with your time.Like playing jump rope.what about marbles or Jacks. Do they even make them anymore? Then I really love the part when Mom came home and woke up everyone in the house.Now that was a blast from the past.

Another reviewer referred to Crooklyn as Spike's most underrated joint, and I heartily agree. This film is a wonderful achievement and much more mature and sure-handed than a lot of the films Spike has made since. It's not quite Do the Right Thing (but that film feels, quite simply, like a blessed and untouchable project), but it holds up better than Malcolm X or Jungle Fever or Clockers or He Got Game--all very good films as well.Why do I like this film so much? It's sweet-natured. In many ways, it reminds me of a film like Millions, which I also adored. There are too many nasty movies (don't get me wrong, I enjoy nastiness from time to time) and too few nice ones. Or rather too few nice ones that don't drop into cliché and cloying sappiness. Delroy Lindo and Alfre Woodard are excellent as always, but the kids here really steal the show (the same was true of Millions--maybe I just like movies with realistic, precocious kids). The film has a bright palette similar to Do the Right Thing and the early scenes in Malcolm X that works perfectly. The story too is something to behold. It doesn't follow a typical path and, as a result, feels more like the realistic life and times of a black family in New York in the 1970s. The film is really touching and, perhaps, that's because Crooklyn feels more personal than many other Spike Lee films. All in all, this is a great and underrated film. If you think you understand Spike, you're wrong until you've seen Crooklyn.

The life and times of a large black family growing up in Brooklyn circa 1970.I am told that Spike Lee got together with his sister and made a list of the things they remember about their youth. They then tuned this list in to a film script -- with the disclaimer that it is not really autobiographical.I won't name the actors in this piece by name, but I would congratulate them on acting out a giant piece of nothing. It also follows the formula that is popular the world over - children are cheeky, men are feckless dreamers and only women can get their act together and stop life falling apart totally.(Maybe this is true - discuss this among yourselves.) There is no real drama here. No hero's and villains. There is bits of soap opera and kitchen table politics, but hardly anything that you couldn't see 7 days a week on TV.I am not really fascinated by working class life in a black neighbourhood anyway - but I did watch and gave the movie a chance to get me involved. Sadly it failed, although it is not objectionable in any way.Crooklyn proves that all great movies are actually about something and if you open your mouth it is best to have something to say. This is just a giant treading-water exercise for Spike Lee who, while not being very good or very polished, gets by because there isn't any competition for him.