Straight Out of Brooklyn

R

1991

1h 31m

Drama

List

80%

Tomatometer

10 Reviews

60%

Audience Score

500+ Ratings

When Dennis (Lawrence Gilliard Jr.), the oldest son of an impoverished family living in a Brooklyn housing project, decides to earn some quick money by robbing a drug dealer, he gets caught up in much more than he bargained for. The stolen briefcase is filled with thousands of dollars in cash. Despite his concern, Dennis intends to use the money to move his family into a better neighborhood. But things take a turn for the worse when the dealer and his henchmen track Dennis down.

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Michael O'Pray

Sight & Sound

Straight Out of Brooklyn is not a glittering debut, but it does have a low-budget, first-time energy which sets it apart from much mainstream work.

Feb 6, 2020

Full Review

Anthony Lane

Independent (UK)

Matty Rich was 19 years old when he made this film, although you wouldn't know it. You'd think he was more like 16 and had watched too much TV.

Jan 4, 2018

Full Review

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

The edges are rough and the ending is simply a slogan printed on the screen. But the truth is there, and echoes after the film is over.

Rated: 3/4

Jan 1, 2000

Full Review

Rene Jordan

El Nuevo Herald (Miami)

Its grand virtue is that it thinks, then exists, with vibrant intensity. [Full review in Spanish]

Jan 5, 2023

Full Review

Brian Orndorf

BrianOrndorf.com

Awfully difficult to watch outside of its 1991 womb, with its limitations cringe-inducing, reducing a powerful statement of frustration to no-budget After School Special.

Rated: C-

May 24, 2011

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Though amateurish and technically raw, the film offers a fresh insider's view of the disintegration of one black family, serving as a microcosm of the entire inner-city black community

Rated: B-

Dec 2, 2006

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Audience Member

The begin and the end is so messed up and like average American family life but the end is very messed up the father got shot and their mother is dead at the hospital bed and it's a low budget film but it's from the film festival so I give that film 1/10 rating

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This was a huge disappointment. Hard to follow and boring. Do not understand why it was critically acclaimed. Just as I a reference I make a point to see many ethnic movies from all over the world every year and saw over 250 films last year.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

02/26/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Anybody remember this during the height of the New Black Renaissance era of the 80s into the 90s? This is one of those buried treasures that no a lot of people got to see. Matty Rich is confident as a first time director in the very powerful piece involving the defeat of the black man , who is a husband and father, and how his sense of defeat leads to his constant drinking and conflicts with his family, which also includes beating his wife on numerous occasions. This film was lost because of higher profile films like 'Boyz N The Hood' and 'Menace II Society' but it really needs to be resurrected and viewed again. It's one of the most important films that came out of The New Black Renaissance era.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/23/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Though amateurish and technically raw, the film offers a fresh-at-that-time insider's view of the disintegration of one black family, serving as a microcosm of the entire inner-city black community.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

Full Review

Audience Member

<a href="http://cooltext.com"><img src="http://images.cooltext.com/1842644.png" width="208" height="51" alt="Plot Summary " /></a></a> Dennis Brown has reached the limit. Raised in the projects of Brooklyn, he's trapped in a world of desperation, drugs, and danger, where you learn fast to duck the drug lord's bullets and stay clear of a fight that's not of your own. His parents tell him to study hard, go to college, and be patient, but he can't wait any longer. Joined by his friends Larry Love and Kevin, Dennis plans a robbery that would take them out of Brooklyn forever. The only problem is that he plans to rob a ruthless drug dealer. The heist is easy enough, but now Dennis is being hunted down, and the neighborhood he is so desperately wants to escape is closing on him. <div style="width:504px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com/photos/straight-out-of-brooklyn-12384930"><img src="http://content8.flixster.com/photo/12/38/49/12384930_gal.jpg" border="0"/></a><div style="text-align:center;font-size:10px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com">Flixster</a> - Share Movies</div></div> <a href="http://cooltext.com"><img src="http://images.cooltext.com/1842645.png" width="158" height="51" alt="My Review " /></a></a> <b><i>"First things learned are the hardest to forget. Traditions pass from one generation to the next. We need to change."</b></i> From the father to the son, and from one family to the next, the cycle of all abuse including that of drugs, alcohol, and spousal is happening in broken homes everywhere in the world must end. That is true to the family of Dennis Brown, who feels that everyone else is getting paid but not him and his family and thinks that money is the fast and only way to solve all of life's problems. And for him, robbing people would mean not eating the same chicken and peas for dinner ever again. The winner of the Special Jury Prize of the 1991 Sundance Film Festival, <i>Straight Out Of Brooklyn</i> is a film that greatly presents a raw, powerful picture of the urban life where life is nothing but struggles, with an impact of how various characters are involved in them while a circle of events greatly affects them. Director, writer, and actor Matty Rich said in an interview that his life is loosely based on that of the storyline, and I can see how he can truly relate to that while playing the Larry character in performance. Just as I was watching the movie I had no idea what I would think of it throughout, then I would find it moving and dramatic but sad by the look of it. For people living in the same urban background as Dennis, remember that it is not crime but a good education is the only way of getting out of it. That's a lesson to you all.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/04/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Movie was deep!!! O.O

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/08/23

Full Review

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Matty Rich

Director

George T. Odom

Ray Brown

Ann D. Sanders

Frankie Brown

Lawrence Gilliard Jr.

Dennis Brown

Barbara Sanon

Carolyn Brown

Reana E. Drummond

Shirley

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Synopsis

When Dennis (Lawrence Gilliard Jr.), the oldest son of an impoverished family living in a Brooklyn housing project, decides to earn some quick money by robbing a drug dealer, he gets caught up in much more than he bargained for. The stolen briefcase is filled with thousands of dollars in cash. Despite his concern, Dennis intends to use the money to move his family into a better neighborhood. But things take a turn for the worse when the dealer and his henchmen track Dennis down.

Director: Matty Rich
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (DVD): Aug 1, 2006
Box Office (Gross USA): $2.7M
Runtime: 1h 31m
Sound Mix: Surround