Summer Of Sam (1999) ***1/2

Summer Of Sam (1999) is Spike Lee's take on Italian American toxic masculinity and tribalism, filtered through the lens of a famous real-life serial killing spree and the effects that it had on residents of NYC. 

Lee very much feels like he's channeling Martin Scorsese (this film shares two actors who were in GoodFellas (1990) (my review here)) and Paul Thomas Anderson here when it comes to the vibe, the camera movements, and the needle drops—two of the same songs that were on the Boogie Nights (1997) soundtrack appear here as well as Heatwave's song "Boogie Nights" (which makes sense since the story takes place in 1977). What I don't really understand is why Adrien Brody's character is supposed to be a "punk" yet he's obsessed with The Who, to the point that he (stupidly) adopts a (bad) British accent in a few scenes—I myself love The Who and plenty of punk rock, it's just an odd character trait to call so much attention to.

Michael Imperioli (who has a humorous bit part in the film) co-wrote the screenplay. Having only watched The Sopranos (1999–2007) for the first time this year, it now makes sense why Christopher's character on that show was trying to be a screenwriter—it seems that Imperioli brought some of his real-life experiences to his role on the beloved gangster TV series. 

For the most part, the acting is great (though not all the characters work) and the filmmaking is great; it just feels less like a Lee film overall and more like a Lee-being-derivative-of-the-aforementioned-directors film. Which is fine, it's just that not everything sticks. The "Son of Sam" "bedroom" sequences (with Michael Badalucco playing David Berkowitz) in particular feel like they belong in a cheap horror movie and undermine the menace of the character. 

Still, SOS is an interesting film. It's a weird mashup of styles, a little too long, and a bit underdeveloped, but it's a very entertaining piece of cinema.

You can find my Spike Lee Joints Ranked list here.