JACKIE BROWN (1997) *1/2 This must have looked great on paper, and I'm not entirely certain why it didn't work better. The lowlife characters are drawn very well, especially their motivations and interactions with each other, and not always badly acted. Samuel L. Jackson has some pretty good moments as the head gangsta, but Pam Grier is mostly over her head in the lead. I'm not sure if Bridget Fonda was really convincing as the surfer slut or if that's just her. Robert de Niro smokes a lot of pot with her and ends up not liking her much in a particularly realistic turn. In one deliciously ironic scene they watch her uncle Peter on tv in Dirty Mary and Crazy Larry - a most appropriate aesthetic and thematic point of reference for the film and particularly the scene. There are finally just too many unlikely turns in the script (why doesn't Jackson go get his own money, show me the gangsta who's happy to work with double-agents for the cops, why doesn't Jackson just shoot Grier like he does everyone else, etc.) and bad notes from the actors to maintain momentum.
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