Cast: Omar Epps, LL Cool J, Stanley Tucci, Nia Long, Hill Harper, Pam Grier
Director: Michael Rymer
Producers: Paul Aaron and Michael Henry Brown
Screenplay: Paul Aaron and Michael Henry Brown
Cinematography: Ellery Ryan
Music: Christopher Young
U.S. Distributor: Dimension Films
In Too Deep is anything but what the title suggests. The latest in a long line of mediocre August releases, this would-be thriller boasts several well acted, interesting characters stuck in a story that is unevenly paced and overly familiar. Australian director Michael Rymer (who helmed the extraordinary and disturbing Angel Baby) effectively generates atmosphere and, on at least a few occasions, a degree of tension, but there's only so much he can do with a script that claims to be "inspired by true events" but really has been cobbled together using scenes, moments, and plot elements lifted from about two dozen other movies (many starring Al Pacino or directed by Martin Scorsese). Actually, that approach might work if the final product didn't seem like a tired retread of bigger, better motion pictures.
Jeff Cole (Omar Epps) goes into undercover work right out of the police academy. His captain, Preston D'Ambrosio (Stanely Tucci) is impressed by his results, but worries that he invests too much of himself into his "street characters." Eventually, Cole is selected to infiltrate the operation of Cincinnati's biggest drug dealer, Dwayne Gittens, a.k.a. "God" (LL Cool J), a New Jersey native who is "hooked into 80% of the city's crack supply" and is using the projects as his base of operation. Cole finds it difficult to earn Gittens' trust, and when he becomes involved in an incident during which two men are shot, D'Ambrosio pulls him out. Cole spends the next several months is a safe house, re-connecting with the world, taking photography classes at a local college, and falling in love with one of his models, Myra (Nia Long). But the pull to go back on the job is strong, and when Cole discovers a way to return to Gittens' circle, he persuades his bosses to let him take it.
Arguably, the best thing about In Too Deep is LL Cool J (who recently starred in the similarly-named, but otherwise dissimilar shark attack movie, Deep Blue Sea), although fans of Omar Epps can make a similar claim. Both actors are at the top of their game, and it helps that the screenplay at least gets things right where these two are concerned. The characters of Cole and Gittens are nicely rounded; lazy writing could have transformed them into walking, talking clichés. Gittens isn't the average, soulless drug dealer. He wants to give something back to the community, so, at Thanksgiving time, he offers free turkey dinners to everyone in the neighborhood (conveniently ignoring the fact that his drugs are tearing apart the social fabric). Also, while he can be cruel and nasty, Gittens also has a vulnerable side. He desperately wants to trust people. (Why else would he let Cole get so close?) Cole, meanwhile, has enough personality quirks to make him more compelling than the run-of-the-mill undercover cop who loses his law-abiding identity. The real reason these two characters come alive, however, is that Cool J and Epps give strong, powerful performances. In a supporting role, Stanley Tucci is effective as Preston D'Ambrosio (it's refreshing to see a superior officer who's more than all bluster). Other than these three, however, no one is even slightly remarkable, and Pam Grier, who does little more than show up in a few scenes to spout an occasional line of dialogue and wave around a gun, is tragically underused.
In Too Deep contains several involving scenes, such as the opening montage, which flashes back and forward across two time periods as Cole figures a way out of a dangerous moral dilemma. There's also a nicely played, suitably tense moment in which Gittens, having heard an ominous rumor about his new friend, confronts Cole, asking him if he's a cop. Then there's a chilling sequence where Cole and Gittens viciously beat up a man and women while Gittens' infant son looks on. Overall, however, a random series of strong scenes cannot redeem a lackluster and derivative plot. And there's also the issue of inconsistent pacing. At times, especially during the middle of the film when Cole is on sabbatical, the proceedings grind to a halt. In the end, In Too Deep feels too shallow and too familiar to be worth the effort.
© 1999 James Berardinelli