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Ray Liotta, LL Cool J, Mekhi Phifer, Bruce McGill, Chiwetel Ejiofor ... see more see more... , Taye Diggs , Jolene Blalock , Guy Torry

A cop trying to clear the name of a woman he loves falls deep into a morass of corruption in this crime thriller. Ford Cole (Ray Liotta) is the district attorney in a crime-ridden town where he's cont... read more read more...emplating a run for mayor in a bid for greater power. Cole is also having an affair with one of his assistants, Nora Timmer (Jolene Blalock), though he tries to keep that a secret. One evening, while Cole is chatting with journalist Trippin (Chiwetel Ejiofor), Timmer arrives with startling news -- she claims to have been sexually assaulted by Isaac Duparde (Mekhi Phifer), a clerk at a nearby music store who broke into her apartment. Making matters more complicated is the fact that Duparde is currently dead in her flat, leaving Cole to find a way to protect Timmer while not staining his own reputation. Cole realizes this may be harder than he imagined when Luther Pinks (LL Cool J) arrives on the scene to tell him that Timmer actually lured Duparde back to her apartment on purpose, in an effort to get information on a well-connected organized crime figure. Slow Burn was the first directorial effort from screenwriter Wayne Beach. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Flixster Users

57% liked it

7,096 ratings

Critics

12% liked it

33 critics

R, 1 hr. 33 min.

Directed by: Wayne Beach

Release Date: April 13, 2007

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DVD Release Date: July 24, 2007

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Stats: 619 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (619)

  • Deano78
    November 8, 2009
    Deano78
    A pretty decent crime thriller with a strong cast. Not a lot of action but I thought it was a good story with some decent plot twists. In some elements it is like the usual suspects in the way the story unfolds with quite a few red herrings along the way. An enjoyable film that s... read moreeemed to slip under the radar.
  • allan913
    April 8, 2008
    allan913
    A sizzeling, sexy and blistering crime thriller. Bursting with riveting and nail-biting twist and turns that keep you on the edge of your seat. The suspense snaps and crackels like live wire. Intelligent and satisfying. Smart, stylish and very compelling. It gets better as it rip... read mores through the layers. An explosively well-written and hard-hitting drama. Gripping and heart-pounding entertainment. A great and exceptional all-star cast. Ray Liotta rips through the screen with yet another memerising performance. He never fails to give an awsome portrayel. James Todd Smith is gives a great and confident performance.
  • gator681
    May 30, 2008
    gator681
    [font=Century Gothic]In "Slow Burn," district attorney Ford Cole(Ray Liotta) is running for mayor on a record of being tough on organized crime with the help of his forceful assistant district attorney Nora Timmer(Jolene Blalock). But this has also earned him his share of enemie... read mores, including the legendary gangster Danny Ludin who runs the Omen gang.(Ludin is so twisted that he has taped every episode of "Friends.") One night while riding with reporter Ty Trippin(Chiwetel Ejiofor), Ford receives word that Nora killed Isaac Duperde(Mekhi Phifer), a music store worker who met her a week before and raped her. But a friend and coworker of Isaac's, Luther Pinks(LL Cool J), contradicts her by saying that Isaac and Nora have been acquainted for months.(This does not mean that she was not raped...) As proof, he mentions a tattoo on Nora's backside that Ford is familiar with from their lovemaking...[/font]
    [font=Century Gothic][/font]
    [font=Century Gothic]"Slow Burn" is a stylish attempt to do a modern noir with an erotic edge(shown perfectly in Jolene Blalock's barefoot stride across the music store) that starts promisingly, but eventually ties itself into so many knots that it just becomes one huge mess. Still, despite the obvious cinematic references("The Usual Suspects" and "Rashomon" to name a couple), there are some interesting thoughts on the subject of race, especially with how differently Ford and Luther view Nora who has light brown skin. What would have helped is if the movie's timeframe had been extended from one night, so as to properly develop a potentially vibrant milieu.[/font]
  • jeffboam
    August 10, 2010
    jeffboam
    A fascinating failure, this stylish and noirish Rashomon meets The Usual Suspects ultimately proves to be gunpowder in a thimble, more Who-Done-What? than Who-Done-It? Too dense for its running time, Slow Burn feels like it could have been expanded into an intense pay-cable seri... read morees a la The Wire and The Shield.

    In the R-rated Slow Burn, Liotta plays a mayoral election-seeking D.A. who finds himself entangled in controversy after his beautiful assistant D.A. (Jolene Blalock) confesses to a race-related killing.

    Not for lack of trying, the B-list ensemble gives it their all. Such a loaded hot potato reminds this reviewer of programs like Crash where an issue-driven movie premise got blown up into a 12-episode season of televised drama. Unfortunately, Slow Burn puts a cap on such potential and the under-developed drama just plain burns out. Without the proper time and attention, the short-fused plot comes across more far-fetched than fetching.

    Bottom line: Too big for its britches.
  • panta2
    December 8, 2007
    panta2
    [color=red][b][size=5]SLOW BURN (2007)[/size][/b][/color]

    [img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/gallery/1164590/photo_11.jpg[/img]

    [color=brown][b][i]Ovaj je film u bioskopu dosada videlo preko milion ljudi, a na videu preko 13 miliona... pa neka vam to nesto k... read moreaze o kakvom se filmu radi: KAO DA JE PRAVLJEN ZA VIDEO TRZISTE kada ste umorni dosli s posla i KADA VAM SE TAKO SPAVA...

    [img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/gallery/1164590/photo_03.jpg[/img]

    Film ide u toliko zapleta da nisam siguran da na kraju uopste i ima rasplet. Gluma nije nesto posebno, a svaki dijalog je ne samo dramatican, vec predramatican, kao da ljudima u svakom trenutku treba prepisati nesto za smirenje! Wayne Beach, ka reziser, nije uspeo u ovom neo-noir trileru da zadrzi moju ili bilo ciju paznju u bioskopu... naprotiv... vecina njih je bila zahvalna na omogucenom vremenu za slatko spavanje... dok se akcija (isprepletenih likova) u neimenovanom gradu u Americi odvijala punom parom...

    [img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/gallery/1164590/photo_10.jpg[/img]

    Ipak, golisave scene nisu bile za zanemarivanje, iako je i tamo nedostajalo malo vise maste!

    [img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/gallery/1164590/photo_08.jpg[/img]

    Ja cu zapamtiti ovo delo kao jos jedan film Ray Liotte i Jolene Blalock (ispod proseka) i oceniti sa 4/10. [/i][/b][/color]
  • Fascade518
    July 30, 2007
    Fascade518
    A major disappointment for me because the preview was so good but the movie was so slow and demeaning!Get it if you dare..then add a half a star...Ew!
  • wbgoose13
    November 2, 2007
    wbgoose13
    A tedious third-rate Usual Suspects. LL Cool J gets some truly awful dialogue.
  • Chosen718
    August 24, 2007
    Chosen718
    Great suspense-drama with a good yet somewhat predictable twist.
  • BigMoneyBruce
    July 14, 2010
    BigMoneyBruce
    Great movie script is well written and acted. Although Jolene Blalock does not seem that brihht in interviews her perfomance in this movie and in Enterprise leaves me wondering why she is not more famous and in more movies. This is a movie that can be watched & enjjoyed more than... read more once so you should own it.
  • lennyd44
    July 26, 2009
    lennyd44
    Sitting through this film is like suffering through slow burn. It's painful and I thought I was watching softcore at one point. Then near the end, the film decides to throw in bunch of plot twists just for the sake of having them. Usual Suspects? Not even close.

View All Slow Burn Reviews

Critic Reviews

J. R. Jones
December 3, 2007
J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader

Shelved for over a year, this incompetent mystery thriller stops periodically so some character or other can deliver an expository speech and pull the plot back on track, but by the end the story has ... Full Review

Scott Brown
April 18, 2007
Scott Brown, Entertainment Weekly

A strange, sprained, but sprightly fusion of The Usual Suspects and the Tragic Mulatto, Slow Burn wants badly to turn its standard neo-noir into a nuanced racial chiaroscuro. Full Review

Terry Lawson
April 16, 2007
Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press

If you have not figured out the identity of Luden by the finale, it will only be because you do not care. Full Review

Mick LaSalle
April 16, 2007
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

The bigger problem is that for all the plot turns and reversals and flashes of action that Beach has structured into his film, there's an elusive extra something that's missing. Full Review

Frank Scheck
April 16, 2007
Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter

John Grisham meets The Usual Suspects by way of late-night Cinemax in this derivative thriller.

Kyle Smith
April 16, 2007
Kyle Smith, New York Post

Nothing is what it seems -- unless it seems cheesy. Full Review

Michelle Kung
April 16, 2007
Michelle Kung, Boston Globe

A lesson in how not to make a multiple-viewpoint mystery. Full Review

Stephen Whitty
April 16, 2007
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger

It's not a brilliant movie. It's certainly not worth canceling any appointments to catch at the theater. But it's more than worth a quick look on cable, or even an impulsive rental. Full Review

Stephen Holden
April 16, 2007
Stephen Holden, New York Times

Slow Burn is a wooden police thriller that is as dull as it is impenetrable and ultimately beyond ludicrous.

Eddie Cockrell
April 13, 2007
Eddie Cockrell, Variety

Has direct-to-video etched all over it. Full Review

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Slow Burn Trivia

  • What actor played in Once Apon a Time in Mexico, Before Night Falls, the Source, and Slow Burn?  Answer »
  • Who connects these movies : Rent, 30 days. Slow Burn, Cake, Just A kiss, The Way Of The Gun ?  Answer »
  • name the singer who acted in the movie "Slow Burn"  Answer »
  • LL Cool J has been in several films already, including one being released soon called "Slow Burn". Name the movie in which he starred as a chef fighting for his life.  Answer »
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