Waist Deep (2006)
Directed by Vondie Curis Hall
Written by ?
Starring Tyrese, Meagan Good, Larenz Tate, The Game
Release Date June 23rd, 2006
Published June 24th, 2006
The trailers and commercials for Waist Deep give the impression of a gritty, stylish, inner city gangsta pic. Then, you find out it was directed by the same guy, Vondie Curtis Hall, who directed Mariah Carey's Glitter and much of the cool of the trailer slips away. Waist Deep is not nearly as bad as Glitter but it is nearly as vapid and overwrought with an attempt at a relevant, uplifting message that is laughably out of sync.
Brainless gunplay with a melodramatic twist, Waist Deep stars pop star Tyrese Gibson as O2 a recent parollee looking to avoid his third strike and life in prison. He has one other good reason to stay out of trouble, a six year old son named Junior (H. Hunter Hall, the directors son).
Trouble ensues for father and son when they are driving to their home in South Central Los Angeles and get carjacked. Dad is tossed out of the car while Junior is kidnapped with the car. The kidnapping was orchestrated with the aid of a street hustler named Coco (Meagan Goode) who was working on behalf of a gang kingpin named Big Meat (The Game).
Taking Coco hostage, O2 finds that Big Meat is still holding a grudge from a robbery they worked years ago in which O2 walked away with all the loot. Meat was actually the reason O2 was sent to prison the second time, for six years, but apparently that was not enough payback. He wants the money O2 took or he will kill Junior.
Now a few logical questions. Why if O2's cousin, played by the usually terrific Lorenz Tate, works for Big Meat was O2 unaware Meat still had a grudge against him? Why does O2 spend a large portion of the film pretending not to know who Big Meat is if Meat was the reason he went to prison? And why would O2 stay in Los Angeles if he knew that Big Meat was the biggest, baddest gangster in the city? Did he think a guy as crazy as Meat was going to forget a guy who ripped him off? Meat cuts guys hands off with a machete, anyone who knows him should know the guy holds grudges.
These are questions that the movie never answers. Instead, director Vondie Curtis Hall and writer Darrin Scott attempt to distract us with a convoluted series of heists, one more over the top ridiculous than the next, and a rushed, though not entirely unappealing, sex scene.
Along the way Hall and Scott attempt to give Waist Deep a social conscience. In the background of the many scenes of violence are extras who are marching for peace on the streets and more police presence in their neighborhoods. Hall and Scott seem to believe it was wildly ironic and hysterical to have a gang member beaten and kidnapped as a take back the streets rally happens in the foreground. Are they making fun of clueless protesters? No, because Hall and Scott also want the protests to be sincere and the movies anti-violence message is earnest. That is what makes the choices made in presenting these scenes so curious.
What may be most shocking about Waist Deep is the fact that it's soundtrack stinks. This may be some kind of weird stereotype but, generally speaking, urban dramas like Waist Deep have really good hip hop or hardcore rap soundtracks. That is not the case here where Ghostface Killah is the soundtracks big name, but most of the music in the film comes from Kon Artis and Terrence Blanchard and acts as a greek chorus to the action on the screen. That means that the music is as overwrought and dull witted as the film itself.
Tyrese Gibson is really far to good for such weak material. Unfortunately he is making his living on garbage like Waist Deep and his last picture Annapolis, films that fail to take full advantage of his raw intensity and presence. The guy has some real star power, as he showed in his debut film Baby Boy and last years Four Brothers, but it's muted in Waist Deep by a script that is not nearly as smart as he obviously is.
Meagan Goode is one of the most beautiful women in movies today. However, like Gibson, Goode cannot seem to choose the right movies. Breakout stardom remains just out of her grasp in low rent flicks like Deliver Us From Eva and Roll Bounce and Waist Deep is a step backward for this promising talent.
In the end, the blame for the failure of Waist Deep falls on director Vondie Curtis Hall. The actor turned director, best known for his work on TV's Chicago Hope, has an eye that aims for schmaltz and uplift when it should simply begin with story logic and maybe work it's way toward some uplifting message. There is nothing wrong with trying to be socially relevant but a film cannot simply assume relevance it must be earned through good storytelling and compelling characters, Waist Deep has neither.
Cool looking trailers are almost always a letdown and Waist Deep is yet another sad example of a trailer that is far better than the film from which it is culled. Director Vondie Curtis Hall has done little to improve his skills since Glitter. His skills in direction are good enough in terms of keeping his camera trained on the action but he has a tin ear for character development and plotting, two rather important elements in filmmaking.
