LUV

There were plenty of moments when Common being the main character was problematic.  Watching him, while visually pleasurable, left me craving emotional complexity and more depth from a character recently given a second chance at life and freedom. Not to mention the incongruencies between character development and script. At one point Uncle Vincent (Common) who does not offter his nephew Woody (Michael Rainey Jr.) much wisdom beyond street hustle insight and equating manhood to fear and paranoia, out of nowhere says, "when you think you can't go on remember your ancestors."... What?  Charles Dutton, Dennis Haybert and Danny Glover delivered great performances of course, but unfortunately it was in THIS film.   Vincent's frustration of just being released from prison and trying to rebuild a life and then realizing life has moved on without him start to bubble over and things get intense, when old gang rivalries and drug deals go south. All along poor Woody begs to see his estranged drug addicted mother in North Carolina. When things take a turn for the worst he finds a new path for himself amid the hypermasculinity and dysfucntion.