Crown Heights

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Audience Member Reading the news headlines is a bit more accurate than a fictitious movie lacking the real truth; Rated 1.5/5 Stars •  Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 01/27/23 Full Review Audience Member This is suppose to be a true story of a riot that broke out between Blacks and Jews back in 1991 in Brooklyn. The movie seemed more like an after school special. It was a nice touch that they added some real news footage. I thought the movie ended abruptly though. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/15/23 Full Review Audience Member Based on the true story of Project Cure, a grass-roots community organization working for harmony and understanding between the black and Hassidic Jewish communities in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. (The Lubavitcher rebbe is quoted in the film as telling Mayor Dinkins, in a statement that could be interpreted as purposeful naive optimism or wishful thinking or simple denial, that they are not "two communities" but just one.) Project Cure was founded after years of tension and violence exploded in three days of anti-Semitic rioting in 1991. The story itself is worthy of attention and a better movie could have been made about it, but we're strictly in made-for-TV territory here, with a low budget, mostly bad acting, stock characters, unbelievable events and dialogue, and syrupy sentiments. Unfortunately, the film doesn't make clear what real impact Project Cure has had on the neighborhood, which makes me suspect that it is somewhat limited. One gets the feeling that the group's greatest success was an invitation to bring its unique combination of bad rap and dancing to a half-time show at Madison Square Garden. Howie Mandel plays Dr. David Lazerson, or "Laz", a rather modern, open-minded Chabad chassid and one of the founders of Project Cure. Mandel may not be a good actor, but he is well cast in the part; clearly, both Dr. Laz and Mandel have in them something of the professional goofball and "holy fool". (In the credits, for some unexplained reason, Lazerson is simply called "Rabbi", which he seems not to be. Lazerson's resume -- see http://www.drlaz.com/ -- includes "Bachelor of Divinity" from a Chabad yeshiva but no rabbinical ordination.) Mario Van Peebles (the exception to the bad-acting rule here) plays "Paul Johnson", a composite character based on the real Rev. Paul Chandler and Richard Green, two community activists in Crown Heights. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/26/23 Full Review Audience Member Little known film, but a good one. If you want to find out about race relations between Jews and Blacks (not just African-Americans) in Crown Heights, NY this film is a good place to start. Not spectaular acting, but this film is real. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/19/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Crown Heights

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