Jason's Lyric

A hackneyed Cain and Abel story about two brothers growing up in inner-city Houston with a Romeo and Juliet twist, JASON'S LYRIC is meant to be a life-affirming look at the way love can change our lives. But its BOYZ N THE HOOD cliches and dreadfully stereotyped vision of the perfect woman undermine the story's sense of urgency, making it all too easy to dismiss as Hollywood twaddle hiding behind a mask of ghetto reality.

JASON'S LYRIC opens as Jason Alexander (Allen Payne), riding down a country lane in a bus, recalls his childhood. When he and his brother Joshua were small, their father, Maddog (Forest Whitaker), was a loving and responsible man. But he went...