Product Details

• Actors: Senait Ashenafi, Pierre Perea, Antwan Mills, James Avery, Gayle Samuels
• Directors: Melvin James
• Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: English
• Subtitles: Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: Lions Gate
• DVD Release Date: November 5, 2002
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00006LPAP
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #74,849 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Honeybee" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

"Honeybee" is an action/dram with a dash of humor about a beautiful young woman, Brianna Dukes (Senait Ashenafi), from a well-to-do black family who drops out of college against her family's wishes to pursue a career as a professional boxer. With her loyal trainer Pablo (Pierre Perea) by her side, Brianna struggles to overcome attempts by a disapproving Father (James Avery), an abusive boyfriend (Antwan Mills), a scandalous boxing promoter (victor Carr) and a rival boxer (Corinne Van Ryck) to stop her climb to the top of the boxing world.

Product Description

A young black woman drops out of college against her fathers wishes to pursue a career as a professional boxer. Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 05/25/2004 Starring: Senait Ashenafi James Avery Run time: 90 minutes Rating: Nr

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Boxing Drama Doesn't Quite Go The Distance, December 4, 2002

By	Ibochild (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Honeybee [Theatrical Release] (Theatrical Release)

I caught this film at the Hollywood Black Film Festival last February, so I am probably one of the few people to catch this film on the big screen. It's not surprising that the film never received a significant theatrical release. Simply put, HONEYBEE is an unpretencious B-movie about a young woman trying to make it in boxing. Nothing more, nothing less.

From the looks of it, the film might have been pitched as a cross between ALI and GIRLFIGHT. Unfortunately, it stands up to neither of the films. This is from no fault of the actors. Accepting the rather petite Senait Ashenafi (who played Keesha Ward on TV's "General Hospital") as a boxer is pushing things a bit, but that detail aside, she does a credible job given the material she was given.

Pierre Perea is okay as Honeybee's trainer and Corinne Van Wyck plays a good B-movie villian. As always, James Avery ("The Fresh Prince of Bel Air") gives a reliable performance. The rest of the cast doesn't make much of an impact.

The main shortcoming of the film comes with Roderick Powell's script. Simply put, it lacks originality and depth. Everything you see in this film has been done better elsewhere. Powell also wrote and directed the equally campy, PREACHING TO THE SISTERS (a/k/a PREACHER PLAYER). Of the two films, HONEYBEE is marginally better, in large part due to its use of professional actors and the fact that this one was shot on film rather than grainy video.

Melvin James' direction is sluggish and stylistically indifferent. It isn't until the last reel of the film that the pace starts to pick up, but by then it is too late.

Despite subpar writing and directing, this is not to say that HONEYBEE lacks entertainment value. Even Ed Wood had his legion of fans. HONEYBEE is the type of film that you enjoy because it is bad. It's got many of the elements that make a "good" bad film. A plot that doesn't entirely make sense, the rogue boyfriend, the jealous female, just a smidgen of nudity (not from the lead, though) and even a little heart. So if you're not expecting an Academy Award calibre film, you might even enjoy this it.

Personally, I'm a fan of films with complex female lead characters like last year's IRIS, THE DEEP END, IN THE BEDROOM and MONSTER'S BALL. Films that make you think or provide insights into different people's lives. However, many do not share my point-of-view. They think that those films are dry and boring. For those, there are films like HONEYBEE.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Honeybee, December 2, 2007

By	Herbert R. Adams "Rev. Dr. Dude" (Center Lovell, Maine USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The film is remarkably well-acted and believable, except perhaps for the ending. Although the boxing scenes are obviously staged, the impact of the film is quite authentic and insightful, particularly for a young female who may be thinking about the boxing world as an avenue to pursue. One scene is sexually graphic and may "put off" gifting this film to unsophisticated recipients. I'm and experienced granddad and bought the film for my 17-year-old granddaughter who is just beginning to spar.Honeybee

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Waste of time., November 8, 2002

By	BIG CEDDY (Brooklyn) - See all my reviews

If you purchased or rented this title because you thought you renting a quality film then I feel sorry. I too rented this so called 'waste of time' in hopes of being entertained but the quality of the production was almost unbearable. Honestly, the sound recording was terrible, the acting performances were that of a high school play and overall there was no stucture to the story that would allow someone to follow. This seems like it would have been better off being released by York which at least confesses it puts out bad black films for the 'ghetto'.