Shadowboxer

Shadowboxer is a totally hateful and irredeemable film. It's violent, exploitative, misogynist and just plain stupid. The bizarre story has dying assassin Rose (Helen Mirren) and her partner/stepson/lover Mickey (Cuba Gooding Jr.) hired by an evil crime lord (played by Stephen Dorff) to kill his pregnant wife. Although they cold-bloodedly kill everyone else in sight, Rose decides to save the woman and her baby, and they disappear to raise the child together as a family until their actions come back to haunt them. It's a ridiculous plot and a horrendous script populated with horrible people. These actors are all pretty famous for bad choices in films, but even so they should be thoroughly embarrassed to be involved in this project. The sex scenes between Mirren and Gooding Jr. are especially gross, and Stephen Dorff plays one of the most horrifyingly depraved characters I've ever seen on screen. I have no idea how such a film got made, let alone got included in the Festival. (Lee Daniels)