LUV 2013

A.O. Scott, New York Times: It does not entirely succeed, but at its best "Luv" shows the kind of heart and intelligence that is always welcome - and often missing - in American movies. Read more

Noel Murray, AV Club: Luv is split right down the middle between preposterousness and truth, and between amateurishness and confidence. Read more

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader: His contains plenty of incidental pleasures, including some vibrant images of contemporary Baltimore and fun character turns from Charles S. Dutton, Danny Glover, and Dennis Haysbert. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: "LUV" may not convince with Woody's aggressively telescoped transformation. But the actors compensate. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Director-co-writer Sheldon Candis stretches a lot of the time, a romantic story seems to have been cut drastically, and the film's climax is far too typical. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: The rapper and actor Common has become a highly skilled screen star, but this touchy-feely dud does him wrong. Read more

David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter: Candis generally displays solid skills, and clearly works well with actors. Read more

Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times: What begins as a promising peek into the tragic cycle of waylaid promise that's crippling broken inner-city families is itself dispiritingly pulled sideways in the Baltimore-set indie "LUV." Read more

Joel Arnold, NPR: Saved from its predictable plotline by a strong cast and a central relationship written and performed with sensitivity, LUV reveals the stakes of trusting in a role model and the costs when that person turns out to be human. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: The first half of the movie is painfully tense, drawing us into a relationship that we desperately want to see work. But the screenplay lets its characters down, as it devolves into platitudes and melodrama. Read more

Farran Smith Nehme, New York Post: Even the boarded-up row houses look romantic. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Here is a film about African Americans that sidesteps all the usual, hopeful cliches and comments on how one failed generation raises another. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: Both for good and for ill, "LUV" has a film-school feeling about it, and channels a legacy of fatalistic American crime cinema that includes "Mean Streets" and "Treasure of the Sierra Madre." Read more

Jake Coyle, Associated Press: A kind of "Training Day" hoping for interstitial Terrence Malick poetry in the Baltimore landscape of "The Wire" with the occasional sensationalism of an action film. Read more

Eric Hynes, Time Out: With its rock-skimming male bonding alternating between grisly homicides and a florid Mexican standoff that begets a tidy take-the-money-and-run finale, this tale seems less timely than merely tall. Read more

Robert Koehler, Variety: Heartfelt and formulaic in equal measure. Read more

Melissa Anderson, Village Voice: Although Common and Rainey make a well-matched duo, their chemistry is frequently squandered by a script (co-written by director Sheldon Candis and Justin Wilson) that boxes them into impossible roles in one cliched scene after another. Read more

Stephanie Merry, Washington Post: A sometimes taut and occasionally preposterous day in the life of an 11-year-old accompanying his uncle on business in Baltimore. Read more