Our interest is piqued by any movie with “Red Hook” in the title, especially one by Spike Lee. So it’s disappointing that his latest, Red Hook Summer, a follow-up of sorts to Do the Right Thing about a kid from Atlanta who comes to spend a summer in Brooklyn, has gotten a mixed reaction after its premiere at Sundance yesterday. The Brooklyn Heights Blog reports:
A host of Twitter comments from Sundance reveal that the screening was two-thirds empty, with audience members consistently filing out as it endured.
Many negative reviews followed; a writer for ComingSoon.net called it “one of the worst movies to ever premiere at Sundance.” Though it did get its share of favorable notices, too, including a supportive tweet from Salon’s Andrew O’Hehir and a rave in the Post, which calls it “Lee’s most powerful and controversial narrative feature in years.” Maybe New Yorkers know best about whether such a surely New York-centric movie works? Here’s hoping.
UPDATE: Eric Hynes disputes others’ attendance figures. “RED HOOK SUMMER was not 2/3 empty… Looked full or near to to me.”
Follow Henry Stewart on Twitter @henrycstewart
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