We went and saw American Gangster with high hopes but left the theater feeling let down. The movie was well made (what Ridley Scott film isn't?) but the pacing was very slow and the director was spending most of the time exploring the ambiguity of the moral and ethical stands of its protagonists. Both espoused high ethics, both did things that violated those ethics and in the end, Frank Lucas is a more sympathetic character in the film.

HOWEVER - what made the movie truly great was the color commentary originating from the row behind us, a lady who spoke continuously during the film commenting on the action. (It reminded me of my Mother, who never could stop putting her own two cents in on every film or TV show.) From this color commentary, I learned many things, such as Denzel Washington is "fine" (as in "Ooooh, he fine!"), that a boy should listen to his momma and tons of information about the characters in the film, including how bad they were and what mistakes they were making.

In my opinion, the color commentary, though unsolicited and not part of the director's vision, was the best part of the film and made the movie truly entertaining for me. Whoever this lady was, her viewpoints and mine coincided for the most part and I found myself nodding in agreement with most of her comments ("oh, that boy is bad, he is bad and wrong - look what he's doing! Oh, my, that boy..."). Whoever you are, I salute you!

Don