Customer Reviews

Boulevard [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This movie is an experience. Earthy and touching ,it pulls few punches.It features probally Wuhrer's best performance. Chong delivers a terrific performance as well.Lou Diamond Philips gives a great performance as the despicable pimp. The cast performances are excellent right down the line.The movie shows a side of life that most people really don't understand and gives us a chance to feel with and for the characters.The sometimes brutal and shocking nature of some of the scenes make it tough to watch but it is effective.It's not a movie you will forget about quickly.It also leads us to believe there is hope for tenderness and personal humanity at any level of existance.Hidden amongst the nudity,the sleaze,the shocks,there is a gem.This is worth watching.

Jennifer (Kari Wuhrer) turns to prostitution to raise money in order to have her baby raised in safety away from her abusive husband. Jennifer has her baby adopted, planning to reclaim her within the 90 limit. Her husband is livid and is determined to have his wife returned to him. With no options in front of her, Jennifer gets on a bus and leaves town. Cold and homeless Jennifer has to develop a tough outer skin in order to survive her new life. Befriended by a fellow prostitute (Ray Dawn Chong), and with a pimp (Lou Diamond Phillips) casting his eye over her, Jennifer has her hands full! Also features Lance Henriksen.

Pimps are some of the lowest people on Earth. To make money whoring yourself is one thing: to make money off somebody else's whoring is just super low. I get so angry when I see people in hip-hop culture glorifying pimps and treating them like heroic figures. They're not heroic. They're not sympathetic either: I don't care what the Hustle and Flow people tell you. They abuse, misuse, and exploit women to make money. They're trashy, lazy bums who don't have the guts to sell their own ass.

Well, if my tirade isn't enough to turn you against pimping, Lou Diamond Philips will. This dude is terrible. He is a cold-blooded murdering evil prick who makes Rae Dawn Chong's and Kari Wuhrer's life hell. Kari's character is running away from her abusive, psychotic husband, and Rae's character is a hard-nosed prostitute who refuses Lou's "protection." Kari is homeless and Rae (Ola) takes her in. Soon Kari is hookering along with Rae while her husband tries to track her down.

This story ends tragically. How else could a movie like this end? God, the ending is horribly sad. This movie is so gritty, I can barely watch all of it anymore. Boulevard makes me dislike pimps more than I already did, which explains my diatribe at the beginning of the review. Even though Boulevard is fictional, the story itself is all too real and common.

It's hard out there for a pimp? Then it must be ten times harder for the hookers: you know, the ones who do the ACTUAL work.

This is an over the top flick! The best hooker flick I ever seen, and I gotta tell ya, Lou Diamond Phillips was a trip! You gotta see this movie. It's a must see. It's even better than Angel.

Fleeing from an abusive boyfriend, Jennefer (Kari Wuhrer) hops a bus to Toronto and ends up on the Boulevard, where prostitutes, drug dealers and the down and out reside. Ola (Rae Dawn Chong), who works the corner, takes her in from the cold. Hassan (Lou Diamond Phillips) is the local pimp. Eventually Jennefer takes up prostitution as well, and she and Ola must dodge Hassan, the cops and Jennefer's boyfriend who has come to find her.

In the midst of incredible brutality all around, the two women fall in love. The love scene is wonderfully sensual and memorable. Unfortunately, the rest of the movie is lacking, and the Hassan character in particular is a cardboard stereotype. It's just another abusive boyfriend/evil pimp film.