Review of Summer of Sam (1999) by Philip E — 05 Jul 2007

I understand that this was supposed to be one story out of eight million that occurred in New York during the Son of Sam killings...and I think the film would have been much better if it had JUST been that, rather than a patchwork of decadence and aquamarine mental disease.

I found the story dealing with Johnny Leguizamo and his wife and his friends to be interesting (until towards the end when it dissolved into a drug-fringed witch hunt) and I think the movie would have been better served with the killings/killer handled with a more subtle hand.

Sure, show the actual killings, but the periodic glimpses into the killer's sick mind just seemed comical to me (I mean, the talking dog? Come on.), obviously not the intention. Also, some of Lee's aesthetic choices as far as the splicing in of brief supplementary shots was.

..questionable.