CROOKLYN *

Another semi-autobiographical Spike Lee Joint about growing up in Brooklyn in the seventies. "Crooklyn" is rich in atmosphere but low in incident. It looks great and the kids are terrific but you keep waiting for something to happen and when it does it's too late. In this picture, Lee's idea of action is a lot of shouting and running around. Maybe the problem was that he not only produced and directed it but also wrote it with his siblings; there's no coherence in the script. Maybe you needed to be there or maybe you needed to be called 'Lee'. The soundtrack consists mostly of a parade of soul classics but even these get wearying after awhile.