Jason's Lyric

Last updated
Jason's Lyric
Jasonslyricposter.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Doug McHenry
Written byBobby Smith Jr.
Produced by Doug McHenry
George Jackson
Marilla Lane Ross
Starring
Cinematography Francis Kenny
Edited by Andrew Mondshein
Music byAR
Production
companies
Distributed by Gramercy Pictures
Release date
  • September 28, 1994 (1994-09-28)
Running time
120 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$7 million
Box office$20,851,521

Jason's Lyric is a 1994 American romantic psychological drama film, written by Bobby Smith Jr., directed by Doug McHenry, who co-produced the film with George Jackson and Marilla Lane Ross, and starring Allen Payne, Jada Pinkett, Bokeem Woodbine, Treach, Eddie Griffin, Lahmard Tate, Lisa Nicole Carson, and Forest Whitaker. Set in Third Ward, Houston, Texas, the story is about two mentally scarred brothers who choose different paths in dealing with their tragic childhood. When the older brother found love, he starts facing tough choices: continue to feel family responsibility for his younger brother, or follow his heart to be with his girlfriend.

Contents

Plot

As children, brothers Jason and Joshua Alexander witnessed the fatal shooting of their abusive father, Mad Dog (Forest Whitaker), one night when he came home drunk and attacked their mother. Said tragedy leaves deep scars and prompts them to choose different paths in their future. Jason (Allen Payne) becomes a responsible young man who works as an assistant manager and sales clerk in a Houston electronic shop and lives with his hard-working mom, Gloria (Suzzanne Douglas). Joshua (Bokeem Woodbine) has just been released from prison. Previously traumatized by his late father, he has become a volatile, disturbed ex-con. Jason and Gloria try their best to make Joshua repent and change his ways, but he has difficulties staying out of trouble with both law and authority.

One day in the middle of Jason's working hour, a waitress named Lyric (Jada Pinkett) comes to buy a television. Falling instantly in love with her, Jason begins to pursue her. At first, Lyric rejects Jason's attempts to get closer to her due to her cynicism of men, but his persistence, sincerity, kindness, and humor eventually win her over. They grow closer and end up making love in the woods that magically turn into a flower field. Despite his improved and meaningful life since dating Lyric, Jason is still haunted by multiple episodic nightmares of his childhood.

Meanwhile, Lyric's criminal older brother, Alonzo (Treach), plans to rob a bank with his gang and Joshua joins in. Lyric overhears their conversation and tells Jason. She warns Jason not to cross her brother, and he promises her to only talk to Joshua, followed by offering her a way to escape town together. Lyric delightfully accepts and they agree to meet at the bayou. The following day, the robbery goes wrong as Joshua arrives late. Even worse, he escalates the situation by independently assaulting one of the bank customers, although he escapes with the gang before the police arrive. As punishment for botching the plan, Joshua is brutally tortured by Alonzo and his gang. Back at home, as Jason informs his mom about his and Lyric's plan to move away together, Joshua returns severely wounded. Enraged, Jason breaks his promise to Lyric by confronting Alonzo, ensuing a vicious fight in a public restroom.

Jason reluctantly calls off his and Lyric's plan, reasoning that Joshua would always need him. When she furiously questions him about the nightmares that tie him to keep saving his ungrateful brother, Jason eventually opens up about the childhood incident that left him a lifetime of haunting guilt: After a young Joshua pointed his mother's gun at a drunken Mad Dog to stop him, Jason wrestled it away from him, inadvertently killing Mad Dog himself. Having finally understood his lifelong trauma, Lyric comforts Jason. Nevertheless, she advises him to walk away from Joshua if he wants them to stay together.

Later in the evening, Joshua is preparing a gun in a bar while Jason starts packing at home after earning his mom's blessing to be with Lyric. Unbeknownst to Joshua, their good friend Rat (Eddie Griffin) notices him from the same bar and realizes his intentions. Rat informs Jason about Joshua's attempt to kill Alonzo and anyone connected to him, including Lyric, as revenge. Joshua arrives at Lyric's house and shoots down Alonzo's two crew members before taking her hostage. Jason races there and finds Joshua holding Lyric at gunpoint, demanding Alonzo's whereabouts as well as venting his jealousy towards her for taking away his older brother. The two brothers engage in a heated argument until Jason becomes fed up with his brother's continual selfishness and disregard for others' well-being that he draws his gun on Joshua to teach him a lesson. Unfortunately, Joshua accidentally shoots Lyric in the shoulder. Horrified and devastated, Jason tearfully tends to the injured and unconscious Lyric, and chooses to walk away from Joshua for good. Feeling abandoned, Joshua loses his will to live and shoots himself, in earshot of everyone outside. Though heartbroken, Jason carries Lyric to the waiting ambulance.

The film ends with Jason and the newly-recovered Lyric riding on a bus together, now earning their freedom to start a new life.

Cast

Reception

Jason's Lyric received generally mixed reviews from critics. It currently has a 58% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 24 reviews, with an average score of 5.8/10. The site's consensus reads: "Jason's Lyric is a sexually charged film whose violent streak weakens or, depending on your perspective, supports the melodrama." [1]

Roger Ebert gave the movie praise for its cast's performances, director Doug McHenry's "lyrical touches" to the poetic aesthetics of Bobby Smith, Jr.'s script and its willingness to tackle dramatic themes that New Jack City and Sugar Hill also explored, concluding that, "It's not some little plot-bound genre formula. It's invigorating, how much confidence it has, and how much space it allows itself." [2] Deborah Young from Variety praised the performances of Whitaker, Payne and Woodbine, and the visual settings created by McHenry and cinematographer Francis Kenny but felt the film's script "stumbles into a lame love story and ends in a conventional shootout and bloodbath." [3]

Peter Rainer of the Los Angeles Times called the film "a terribly earnest melodrama with king-size ambitions", commending the filmmakers for their overall attempt at artistic cinema but found it "overextended and unbelievable both as love story and as urban tragedy." [4] In response to his review, filmmaker Jamaa Fanaka gave high praise to the film's two main leads, its supporting cast, and the direction of McHenry. He also counteracted Rainer's opinion of the sex scenes being there to raise the film's box office, saying that its target demographic want to see romantic stories that feature two black leads in said scenes, and that the film offers them a sort of "cinematic sexual healing." [5]

Entertainment Weekly 's Lisa Schwarzbaum gave it a C, writing that she found the brotherly storyline between Jason and Joshua more compelling than the main romantic plot, saying that the latter was "so dense with big themes strung together that character development suffers. And the emotional sum is less than the interconnection of its Tragedy 101 parts." [6] In a review for The New York Times , Caryn James criticized the filmmaking for being overly stylized with its poetic aspirations and making the plot twist "unintentionally confusing rather than deliberately holding back information" with its editing. She called Jason's Lyric "a muddled film that takes a standard urban action movie and adds a veneer of overwrought romance." [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jada Pinkett Smith</span> American actress (born 1971)

Jada Koren Pinkett Smith is an American actress, singer and talk show host. She is co-host of the Facebook Watch talk show Red Table Talk, for which she has won a Daytime Emmy Award. Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2021.

<i>Set It Off</i> (film) 1996 film directed by F. Gary Gray

Set It Off is a 1996 American heist drama crime action film directed by F. Gary Gray and written by Kate Lanier and Takashi Bufford. The film stars Jada Pinkett, Queen Latifah, Vivica A. Fox, and Kimberly Elise. It follows four close friends in Los Angeles, California, who plan to execute a bank robbery—each doing so for different reasons—to achieve better for themselves and their families.

<i>Menace II Society</i> 1993 film by the Hughes Brothers

Menace II Society is a 1993 American teen crime drama film directed by the Hughes Brothers in their directorial debut. Set in the Watts and Crenshaw neighborhoods of Los Angeles, the film follows the life of Caine Lawson and his close friends. It gained notoriety for its scenes of violence, profanity, and drug-related content, and also received critical acclaim for the performances of Turner, Jada Pinkett, and Larenz Tate, the direction, and its realistic portrayal of urban violence and powerful underlying messages.

Larenz Tate is an American film and television actor. He is best known for his roles as O-Dog in Menace II Society, Anthony Curtis in Dead Presidents, and as Councilman Rashad Tate in Power. Tate's other films and television series include the films Love Jones, A Man Apart, Crash, Waist Deep, Ray and the television series Rush and Game of Silence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treach</span> American rapper (born 1970)

Anthony Shawn Criss, better known by his stage name Treach, is an American rapper and actor. He is perhaps best known as the lead rapper of the hip hop group Naughty by Nature.

Doug McHenry is an American film director and producer.

<i>Nutty Professor II: The Klumps</i> 2000 science fiction dark comedy film by Peter Segal

Nutty Professor II: The Klumps is a 2000 American science fiction comedy film directed by Peter Segal. It is the second and final installment in the Nutty Professor remake film series and the sequel to the 1996 film The Nutty Professor. In contrast to the previous film, subplots which are centered on the parents of protagonist Sherman Klump occupy a substantial part of the film.

<i>The Inkwell</i> 1994 American film

The Inkwell is a 1994 romantic comedy-drama film directed by Matty Rich. The film stars Larenz Tate, Joe Morton, Suzzanne Douglass, Glynn Turman, Jada Pinkett and Vanessa Bell Calloway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suzzanne Douglas</span> American actress (1957–2021)

Suzzanne Douglas was an American actress. She was best known for her role as matriarch Geraldine "Jerri" Peterson on The WB sitcom The Parent 'Hood, starring Robert Townsend, which originally ran from 1995 to 1999. Douglas also portrayed Amy Simms in the 1989 dance/drama film Tap alongside Gregory Hines and the legendary Sammy Davis Jr., for which she won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bokeem Woodbine</span> American actor (born 1973)

Bokeem Woodbine is an American actor. In 1994, he portrayed Joshua, the main character's troubled brother, in Jason's Lyric. He won a Black Reel Award and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and a Critics' Choice Television Award for his role as Kansas City mob enforcer Mike Milligan in the second season of Fargo. Woodbine also portrayed Daniel in season 2 of the WGN series Underground, Herman Schultz/Shocker in the film Spider-Man: Homecoming, and saxophonist David "Fathead" Newman in the Oscar-winning Ray Charles biopic Ray.

Allen Payne is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Jason Alexander in the 1994 drama film Jason's Lyric, as well as his portrayal of C.J. Payne on the family sitcom Tyler Perry's House of Payne. Payne is also known for his portrayal of Lance Rodman on NBC's The Cosby Show during its final two seasons. On film, Payne also played Gerald "Gee Money" Wells in the 1991 film New Jack City, and Detective Justice in the 1995 film Vampire in Brooklyn.

<i>Today You Die</i> 2005 American action film

Today You Die is a 2005 American action film directed and shot by Don E. FauntLeRoy. The film stars Steven Seagal, who also produces with Randall Emmett, George Furla and Danny Lerner. It co-stars Treach, Sarah Buxton, Mari Morrow, Nick Mancuso and Robert Miano. The film was released on direct-to-DVD in the United States on September 13, 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lawrence Gilliard Jr.</span> American actor

Lawrence Gilliard Jr. is an American actor who has appeared in films, television series, and theatre. He portrayed D'Angelo Barksdale on the HBO drama series The Wire, a role which earned him critical acclaim. He is also known for his role as Bob Stookey in the AMC horror drama The Walking Dead. He was in the cast of David Simon's HBO TV series The Deuce, which premiered in September 2017 and concluded in October 2019. Gilliard Jr. has had roles in movies such as Straight Out of Brooklyn (1991), Next Stop Wonderland (1998), and Gangs of New York (2002).

<i>The Nutty Professor</i> (1996 film) 1996 American film

The Nutty Professor is a 1996 American science fiction comedy film starring Eddie Murphy. It is a remake of the 1963 film of the same name, which starred Jerry Lewis, which itself was a parody of Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The film co-stars Jada Pinkett, James Coburn, Larry Miller, Dave Chappelle, and John Ales. Filming began on May 8, 1995, and concluded on September 8, 1995. The original music score was composed by David Newman. The film won Best Makeup at the 69th Academy Awards.

<i>The Human Contract</i> 2008 American film

The Human Contract is a 2008 drama film written and directed by Jada Pinkett Smith, starring Jason Clarke and Paz Vega. The DVD was released on 30 June 2009. This is Jada Pinkett Smith's directorial debut.

<i>Strapped</i> 1993 television crime drama film directed by Forest Whitaker

Strapped is a 1993 American television crime drama film produced by HBO Showcase. The film was directed by Forest Whitaker and is the cinematic debut of Bokeem Woodbine. It features several rappers including Fredro Starr, Sticky Fingaz, Monie Love, Busta Rhymes, Yo-Yo and Kool Moe Dee.

<i>A Day in the Life</i> (film) 2009 film directed by Sticky Fingaz

A Day in the Life is a 2009 American musical crime film, written, directed by and starring Sticky Fingaz, released on July 7, 2009 by Major Independents and Lions Gate Films. The film tells about one day in the life of Sticky, the leader of the gang, who is trying to escape from criminal life. A Day in the Life contains no spoken dialogue. Instead, the actors rap all their lines over a hip-hop beat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fish Mooney</span> Fictional character

Maria Mercedes "Fish" Mooney is a fictional character created by producer and screenwriter Bruno Heller for the television series Gotham, portrayed by actress Jada Pinkett Smith.

<i>Spenser Confidential</i> 2020 American action comedy film

Spenser Confidential is a 2020 American action comedy film directed by Peter Berg, with a screenplay written by Sean O'Keefe and Brian Helgeland, and based on characters created by Robert B. Parker. The film stars Mark Wahlberg, Winston Duke, Alan Arkin, Iliza Shlesinger, Bokeem Woodbine, Donald Cerrone, Marc Maron, and Austin Post in his first film appearance, and marks the fifth collaboration between Wahlberg and Berg after Lone Survivor, Deepwater Horizon, Patriots Day, and Mile 22.

<i>Charm City Kings</i> 2020 film directed by Angel Manuel Soto

Charm City Kings is a 2020 American drama film directed by Ángel Manuel Soto from a screenplay by Sherman Payne and a story by Chris Boyd, Kirk Sullivan, and Barry Jenkins. It is based on the 2013 documentary 12 O'Clock Boys by Lotfy Nathan. It stars Jahi Di'Allo Winston, Meek Mill, Will Catlett, and Teyonah Parris.

References

  1. ↑ "Jason's Lyric". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media. Archived from the original on July 31, 2020. Retrieved June 28, 2009.
  2. ↑ Ebert, Roger (September 28, 1994). "Jason's Lyric Movie Review". Chicago Sun-Times . Sun-Times Media Group. Archived from the original on February 18, 2020. Retrieved March 22, 2018– via RogerEbert.com.Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg
  3. ↑ Young, Deborah (September 19, 1994). "Jason's Lyric". Variety . Penske Media Corporation. Archived from the original on March 27, 2018. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
  4. ↑ Rainer, Peter (September 28, 1994). "Movie Review: Ambitious 'Jason's Lyric' Falls Short of Redemption" . Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on January 2, 2021. Retrieved January 2, 2021.
  5. ↑ Fanaka, Jamaa (October 24, 1994). "Big Amen for Rhythmic, Riveting and Sexy 'Jason's Lyric'" . Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on January 2, 2021. Retrieved January 2, 2021.
  6. ↑ Schwarzbaum, Lisa (October 7, 1994). "Movie Review: 'Jason's Lyric'". Entertainment Weekly . Time Inc. Archived from the original on October 20, 2020. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
  7. ↑ James, Caryn (September 28, 1994). "In a Blighted Landscape, a Tale of Two Brothers" . The New York Times . Archived from the original on January 2, 2021. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.