Pssst, want to check out Summer of Sam in our new look?
Top comments
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Forzelius
A little bit of a missed opportunity for me. What confused me the most was the focus of the story. So much of the runtime was spent on dwelling over various bedroom and romance issues. Was hoping for more "the heat gets to you" themes as hinted in the title. Perhaps Spike Lee didn't want to make another "Do the Right Thing" in that regard and decided to mix it up.
Could've been an alltime great serial killer movie as the production value and the 70s and the Son of Sam story in and of itself should provide for plenty of material. Instead it falls somewhere between ok and good. Great use of music and I enjoyed the editing as well.
Not bad, but could've been a lot better. 3 years 3 months ago -
Siskoid
While we do see the serial killer that terrorized New York in 1977 and the cops that hope to catch him, Summer of Sam is a Spike Lee film through and through, and is much more about a South Bronx Italian-American community under threat and how it reacts with fear and paranoia. Lee focuses on two best friends whose friendship is tested during this time - John Leguizamo, who routinely cheats on his wife (patently insane given that Mira Sorvino has never been lovelier), and Adrien Brody, a punk rocker whose adopted cultural differences make him a suspect for the murders in the neighborhood. No one's thinking straight in this cast, whether because of drugs, alcohol, sex, love, heat, or straight up madness, and things spin out of control. It's also a love letter to the late 70s, and Lee includes a lot of historical detail, which does mean the movie rambles a bit, but it also lends a certain authoritative authenticity to the proceedings you might not get just with music and fashions. And if you're doing a "70s film", you can't really be criticized for giving it the meandering feel of a 70s movie. 1 week 3 days ago -
