Like Dangling Crack In Front of an Idiot

Starring: Pam Grier, Antonio Fargas

The content of Foxy Brown makes it sound daring and edgy. The movie touches on racism, explicit drug use, prostitution, murder, betrayal by a family member, forced heroin use, rape and castration.

Foxy Brown begins with a homage to James Bond, with an afro-clad Pam Grier cavorting in silhouette while caressing a gun. The promise is something of a playful romp - James Bond could not be described as hardcore or edgy and is, instead, something of a superhero.

Maybe that is what Foxy Brown aspired to be, but if so it wasn't quite over the top enough. Foxy's motivations (revenge for the murder of her undercover narc boyfriend by The Man) is too straightforward and earnest. Worse, while Bond is never as much as rumpled by the bad guys, Foxy spends a lot of the movie being brutalized. The result is a movie that is fucking dark, but doesn't act like it.

Part of the problem is that some of the movie is so terrible as to be funny. The plot centers around whores-as-protection-for-narcotics-pushers, is at least partially to blame. A madame uses her women to bribe judges and other influential people to go easy on those who purchase the protection. The story is not treated with any sense of seriousness and the villains are so one-dimensional and pathetic it is hard to see them as menacing (even as they do horrible things). Like the Bond movies, Foxy Brown is only as good as its villain - and that is not very good at all.

That's not to say that the movie is without pleasures. Blaxploitation great Antonio Fargas (who later became famous as Huggybear of Starksy and Hutch) excels in a small but critical role as Foxy's dipshit brother who finds himself in debt to organized crime. The opening scene, in which Fargas tries to string out conversation with cops at a late night diner knowing that as soon as they leave waiting thugs will break him in half, effectively combines humor and pathos. Fargas also plays, convincingly 1) amorality, 2) drug addiction, 3) intelligence. Not the easiest combination.

And, while the movie doesn't do her justice, Pam Grier exudes that indescribable bit of magical star power that few possess. Her performance isn't deep but it is full of life and charisma.

Overall: Adequate but interesting.

Good to Watch: With people who are not bothered by violence and/or nudity.

Would I watch it again? Possibly. The tone was strange, but this is the type of flick that might grow on me.