“CROWN HEIGHTS”
Rated R. Grade: B +
Based on a true story “Crown Heights” resembles any number of “wrong man” dramas, such as Alfred Hitchcock’s 1956 classic “The Wrong Man” with Henry Fonda, as well as any number of “Law & Order” TV episodes. But what sets “Crown Heights” apart is a lyrical touch by writer-director Matt Ruskin, who produced the 2016 sleeper “The Infiltrator” and whose screenplay deftly combines fact and fiction, and an award-worthy turn by Lakeith Stanfield (“Atlanta,” “Straight Outta Compton”) in the lead role. The film tells the story of Colin Warner, a young man from Crown Heights, Brooklyn, who is wrongfully charged and convicted of murder committed on the mean streets of New York City in 1980. A corrupt cop (veteran Zach Grenier), a heartless district attorney (Josh Pais) and a jaded judge are all it takes, and Colin is in high-security lockup at Dannemora prison in New York State. But the rest of the time, there is uplift and hope. Colin’s neighbor and childhood flirtation Antoinette (Natalie Paul) comes to visit him in prison. They fall in love, marry and have a child while Colin is still behind bars. Colin gets his GED. Colin’s neighbor, childhood friend and “bredren” Carl “KC” King (Nnamdi Asomugha) makes getting his friend freed his life’s work. Yes, “Crown Heights” is another case of a white person telling a black story. But the acting is first-rate across the board, and no one else stepped up to tell the story of Warner. “I DO ... UNTIL I DON’T” Rated R. Grade: C +
With “I Do ... Until I Don’t,” writer-director-actor and ellipsis fan Lake Bell takes a step backward from “In a World ...” — her impressive debut feature as writerdirector set in the small milieu of Hollywood voice coaches. “I Do ... Until I Don’t” is a weak-tea marital satire, set in real-life Atlantic coast resort town of Vero Beach, Fla. The film tells the tale of three Vero couples facing comic marital crises of various sorts, all of whom are being courted by a British documentary filmmaker named Vivian Prudeck (Brit Dolly Wells of “Doll & Em”), who makes reality-TV-like nonfiction films and argues that marriages should be seven-year contracts with an option to renew (ergo the “I Don’t”). Vivian yearns for real fireworks between the filmed couples and most of all to capture live breakups and have the clips go viral. Bell, teamed with Ed Helms, delivers a self-consciously goofy performance that never quite seems credible, not unlike the film itself, which demonstrates how quirkiness can metastasize into something intolerably banal. “I Do ... Until I Don’t” comes across like a sitcom in search of a network TV deal. I’m not sure if it would be much better in that format, but it would be shorter.