ShareThisHow odd that a filmmaker who built a reputation as a sensitive, open-eared purveyor of multifaceted race relations would so underplay ethnic tension in the hotbed of the Jim Crow South.In "Honeydripper," writer/director John Sayles ("Lone Star," "Sunshine State") paints a lollygagging, often seemingly still-life portrait of a struggling black juke joint in the 1950s Deep South. The lone blatant symbol of intolerance is the sheriff (Stacy Keach), who wields his proverbial whip with limp gusto, stepping in for token oppression of black characters while arbitrarily backing off at just the instant the film is getting ready to make an important stand. Sayles' idea is probably to add a second side to Keach's crusty segregationist lawman, but in making him so conveniently tame he shreds the figure's believability.Such a melodramatic premise deserves someone to snarl at as well as cheer for. Instead of a polemic about tolerance and perseverance, we get . . . profit motive.We're left to pull for retired musician Tyrone (Danny Glover) to get his Honeydripper Lounge jumping. A rival bar is aimed at running the Honeydripper into the ground, and Tyrone's griping wife would be happy to see it go. But the downhome-wisdom-spinning Tyrone seeks to reignite momentum by firing his blues singer and bringing in the famous, universally adored Guitar Sam for a one-night gig that will solve everything.Problem is, Guitar Sam isn't coming. Plan B arrives in the form of traveling musician Sonny (Gary Clark Jr.), who proves to have impressive chops after he's arrested for no reason and forced to pick cotton fields until Tyrone needs him to pretend he's Guitar Sam and set the oblivious crowd afire.With such obvious plotting, it's up to the writing and performances -- both musical and acting -- to pick up the slack, but Sayles' screenplay dawdles in slow side stories. The movie comes alive only when Sonny starts jamming on the guitar, uniting races, colors and creeds with his fabulous riffs, coaxing the unborn rock 'n' roll movement out of the womb. There's too little music, though, and Glover operates at a level of nuance and skill embarrassingly far above most of his fellow castmates. Sayles' fortune-cookie-style script does the actors no favors. This movie is dripping a lot of things, none of them honey.2 stars out of 4Rated: PG-13 for brief violence and some suggestive material.Cast: Danny Glover, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Yaya DaCosta, Gary Clark Jr.Writer/director: John Sayles.Family call: Not for young kids.Running time: 123 minutes. (Contact Phil Villarreal at pvillarreal(at)azstarnet.com)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Dawdling script hampers stiff 'Honeydripper'
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