With the extra time off, I’m catching up on various movies I just hadn’t gotten around to yet.  I was talking about Miracle at St. Anna to a friend, and he told me I really should take time out to see She Hate Me.

What I had heard over the years was this was one of the first movies that started what we’ll call ‘later Spike’.  By later Spike I mean that after Malcolm X, some of Spike’s later films try to tackle so many topics in one story, that the film as a whole may fall under its own weight.  It’s an interesting theory, and I can see where people who saw this movie would draw that conclusion.

Touching on Enron, same sex adoption, the Mafia and black sexuality in one film is…a lot.  But as always with Spike, a lot of the points were valid so that didn’t bother me all that much.  From a storytelling point of view, the thing about starting multiple strands/storylines for any filmmaker is how do you resolve them all and tie them all together by the time the movie ends?  In She Hate Me, the story all ties together, but I don’t know how satisfied I felt at the end.

Two things I’ll give this movie PROPS for: Kerry Washington grows on me in every movie and role I see her play.  There’s more than a few sisters working steady these days, but nobody holds down the ‘educated young sister’ roles like she does.  And Dania Ramirez…what are YOU up to these days?

And I have to mention my man Clay Davis.  OK, that’s not the actor’s real name, but my Wire fans know what I’m talking about.  That fool stole his few scenes as usual.  How do you trademark a line in between projects?  Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!