"Death to Smoochy"
"25th Hour"

Ed Norton plays characters overcoming impossible odds to make it big in New York City while discovering a little something about themselves (and their fellow human beings) along the way...

Well, not really... But close enough.

"Death to Smoochy" wasn't really as bad as everyone said. Don't get me wrong... It was deeply flawed. And the ending DID suck. But hey... Nobody really makes good black comedies anymore... (except Roberto Benigni... man, I can't wait to see his version of "Pinocchio").

It was at least colorful. And it had Catherine Keener.

Conversely, I didn't think "25th Hour" was as good as everyone said it was. Too much music. Heavy, dense music. There was loud blarring music throughout 98% of the film (by my count, there were two scenes that didn't have music).

Spike Lee also rips himself off a scene lifted from "Do the Right Thing" (close up on faces of the various ethnic types of New York and a discussion of what's wrong with them). Did they just reuse that footage and cut into this film?

I think the whole "but what if it happened this way" ending was a biblical reference (Jesus on the cross saying "what would my life be like if...?" (or if that wasn't actually in the Bible, it was at least a reference to "The Last Temptation of Christ")) but it was waaay too heavy handed.

At any rate, Edward Norton is watchable even when he's surrounded by crap. He's almost reached that Tim Robbins / Tom Hanks plateau where you can enjoy watching them do just about anything.