4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
more terribleness!, January 27, 2003
This review is from: Snitch'd (DVD)
A young Latina with a bright future is murdered at school for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. A Latino undercover cop pretends to be a high school student investigating the crime. The ending is meant to be a surprise.
I hope that synapsis didn't make you want to see this movie, because it stinks! The actors are bad; they have terrible timing. The cop looks older than the students and is more than obvious in his investigating. The gang warfare displayed here is boring. Several characters are shot or stabbed, yet this movie shows little blood. In fact, I haven't seen such fake dying scenes since watching "Doctor Who" reruns decades ago. Further, the protagonist is a martial arts expert. Every time he kicks or hits someone, a sound effect goes off. They might as well have shown "BAM!" and "POW!" Batman-style, as cheesy as this was. And yes, the fight scenes were poorly choreographed too. Jackie Chan need not worry.
I love seing actors of color getting roles. I think East LA is probably rich with story materials. I even loved seeing the buff, tattooed guy on the disc cover (who is no where to be seen in the film). But this movie was god-awful. You have been warned.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Inept movie still entertaining as a curiosity, March 15, 2005
First, I'd like to correct one of the other reviewers, who said that SNITCH'D is about a "Latino cop" who goes undercover as a high school student.
Actually, the cop (played by writer/director James Cahill) looks Asian but is supposed to be white. He's certainly not supposed to be Latino. We know this because one of the students calls him a Spanish name, and Cahill's character has to ask a fellow student what he was called. "White boy," she replies.
Also, I don't think the movie is set in East L.A. The credits say it was shot in Santa Ana, a heavily Latino city in the middle of Orange County, which is just south of Los Angeles County.
Yes, the movie is inept and unrealistic. Many of the actors playing these high school students look well into their twenties. The guns look like toys. Sound like it too. When they're dropped or tossed aside, you can hear the hollow plastic clatter on the floor.
Yet this movie is entertaining, in a weirdly "what were they thinking," endearing sort of way. Star-writer-director Cahill smirks his way through much of the film, like he's trying to play a suave James Bond type. You look at him and think, this inept, non-charismatic Asian-playing-a-white-guy actually imagines he's the next Rambo/tough guy/action hero. Especially funny is his pursed lips and staring eyes when he sneaks around the house with his gun in "action hero" fashion. Cahill is morbidly funny!
And yes, his "martial arts" is as inept as the film's toy guns. He grabs a guy's head and repeatedly "slams" it against a desk in what's supposed to be a quick "jack-hammer" fashion ... only it's slow, and the victim's head clearly isn't making contact with the table. The victim seems to just go along with having his head banged against the desk, because director Cahill told him to. Also funny is when Cahill uses martial arts to defeat some eight gun-totting ganstas, partly with the aid of ping-pong paddles.
One "actress," when she's acting "sad" and telling Cahill about her recently deceased friend, seems to be actually smiling.
This film is probably being seen only because its female lead, Eva Longoria, has become famous on DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, although she isn't much better in this film than the rest of the cast. Some, but not much. Then again, it must have been hard for the twentysomething Longoria to play a high school student swept off her feet by Cahill, or mouth his script's cliche-ridden relationship dialogue.
Their "flirting" in the library is another very funny moment! They're supposed to be teenagers, yet their relationship dialogue sounds written for adults, who in turn got their lines from bad romantic comedies.
I said this film is endearing. I have a soft spot for amateurs who buy a camcorder and think they can make a Hollywood style feature. Although I think this was shot on super-8 or 16mm film. That's because you can hear a camera whirring in some of the shots. And there's a soft, shot-on-film-then-blown-up look.
So although this film is inept enough to merit only one star, I'm giving it another one for unintentional humor, Longoria eye candy, and the effort of getting it finished.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
I REGRET EVER RENTING THIS STUPID-A** BULLSH*T, October 19, 2003
This review is from: Snitch'd (DVD)
A COP GOES UNDERCOVER AT A LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL TO INVESTIGATE A MURDER AND TO BRING DOWN A VICIOUS GANG OF DRUG DEALERS. VERY CHEAP AND VERY SENSELESS. FOR A GANGSTA MOVIE, THIS SEEMS TO HAVE QUITE A BIT OF FIGHTS. JAMES CAHILL MUST THINK HE'S BRUCE LEE THE WAY HE BE FIGHTING HIS WAY THROUGH ALL THE GANGS. THIS DEFINITELY IS ONE GANGSTA MOVIE I'M ASHAMED TO SAY I'VE SEEN. FILLED WITH HILLARIOUSLY BAD ACTING AND VERY POINTLESS ACTION SCENES. THIS MOVIE SHOULD'VE NEVER EVER BEEN MADE IN THE FIRST PLACE.
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