Empire (2002)
Written and directed by Franc. Reyes

You know how some people are suckers for romantic comedies, or teen slasher flicks, or dystopian sci-fi adventures where everyone sports colorful prosthetic ears? Well, my veg-out movie genre of choice is high-rolling drug-dealer movies, and I'll watch pretty much anything that shows me the glitz, glamour, and violence that come along with that culture. Hence, I give movies like Blow and Carlito's Way a lot of leeway, even when they're not great.

Empire is in that vein, with John Leguizamo as the high-rolling drug dealer who wants to go legit. It has all the hallmarks of the high-rolling drug-dealer movie, but that's about it. Its main dilemma is that it subordinates the actual story to the setup.

Sure, the setup is where you get to see all the high-rolling drug-dealer stuff, but the problem is, it's basically irrelevant to the actual plot, and as a result, you don't get any sense of propulsive movement, as with stuff like GoodFellas or even Blow.

You can tell the filmmakers were a little out of their depth because the DVD has 21 deleted scenes. Focus, please.

Isabella Rosellini is really good, but otherwise not much here. It's like fairly good cocaine cut with way too much baking soda … the lack of rush is irritating, but it's still cocaine, you know?

Review by Mary Lu Gerhig