Every issue, crunchyblackgirl (CBG) and her Dad will do a review of a new movie. Being the kind soul that she is (and since he was paying), she let him choose the film. He chose The Score. When asked why, he replied, “I haven’t read much about it. All I know is what the advertisers tell me, ‘It’s got intrigue and suspense.’ All that stuff they make up to get you to get excited and show up. I’m suspicious though because I think it’s Robert DeNiro’s slick way to get another black woman in his life but we’ll see.”

After a packed Sunday matinee in Brooklyn Heights, CBG and her Dad sat on the steps of Brooklyn’s City Hall and discussed The Score. Here is what they said:

CBG: So?

DAD: So what?

CBG: So what’d you think of the movie?

DAD: Well, uh, it was OK. There are no Academy Award nominations in the future.

CBG: Uh, no.

DAD: It was entertaining enough I guess. (Though), I think that they used a lot of deceptive measures to bring the public into the fold. They do it all the time in movies. You know, like a cameo appearance from Marlon Brando (but) for one second.

CBG: He was in it more than I thought he was going to be. He was good, I thought.

DAD: Well, they’ve been picking him for this same role, the role of The Godfather, for so long that it’s sort of his new image.

CBG: In articles about the film, they kept mentioning that his character was gay. But it has nothing to do with the movie.

DAD: It doesn’t seem like it has anything to with it.

CBG: I just wonder why they brought it up.

DAD: They do that for sensationalism, I think. Just like how they used Angela Bassett. (She’s) not too high profile. Hasn’t done that much since … Waiting to Inhale or whatever it’s called. And they used her because this way you have the element of inter-racial romance.

CBG: They used her because he (Robert DeNiro) has fever.

DAD: Versus another female, white actress who wouldn’t have taken that same role because it has no significance whatsoever. She was shown, two, three times.

CBG: Ed Norton was good.

DAD: Yeah, he was good. He was good. DeNiro was typical DeNiro.

CBG: Did you feel like the heist was believable? I know my answer but …

DAD: Um, not with modern technology, no. And I have to say that a world treasure is not (worth) thirty million dollars. A billion dollars, maybe. But, you know, you have to make it entertaining. Movies are fun.

CBG: It was waay too long Dad.

DAD: They carried out one plot throughout the whole movie. They should have had inserts of other things within the structure of the movie to entertain. They could have done something else with Angela Bassett. They could have done something else with …

CBG: It needed a sub-plot is what you’re saying.

DAD: Yeah, yeah, it just needed something else.

CBG: My problem was that you knew Ed Norton was crooked from the beginning so the minute you saw him, I didn’t understand how these people who were supposed to be these …

DAD: … these elite criminals, how they didn’t know. And for someone who supposed to be a mastermind, this guy (Marlon Brando’s character) had been screwing him (Robert DeNiro’s character), monetarily, for 25 years. Now, you know if I’m doing those kind of capers, I’m gonna be overcompensated not under compensated.

CBG: Three people wrote that script. Apparently Ed Norton did a lot of rewrites as well so a lot of people have had their hands on that wack story.

DAD: Well, it’s summertime and there’s lots of money to be made so if you don’t have a film out there, irregardless of whether it stinks or not, then you don’t have any money out there. Every film that you make, you try to be concerned that it has some sort of value to it but if a film is going to make you 20 million dollars, you can’t just say no.

CBG: My favorite part of the movie was after Ed Norton did his big heist and he tried to escape on foot.

DAD: Here’s a man he’s got a 30 million dollar statue. He figured out how to get into a top security building and now he’s running down the street as fast as he can with no idea where he’s going whatsoever in some Pro-Keds.

CBG: Would you suggest this movie to your friends?

DAD: Well, it depends on how desperate they are to see a movie. I liked the ambiance of being out with my daughter and not watching television but if you got something else on your mind, I would tell you to wait for the video to come out.

CBG: I don’t think I’d even say wait for the video. I mean, I thought Ed Norton was cute. I was glad I saw him again. He’s a cutie.

DAD: Well, I could say I thought Angela Bassett was cute if we’re going that way. They didn’t show enough of her.

CBG: No, they really didn’t.