...a scorching melodrama about childhood friends-played by John Leguizamo and Adrien Brody-whose relationship reaches an emotional boiling point.

Summer of Sam, for all its flash and well-crafted fury, is only superficially disturbing. It's a nightmare stroll down memory lane: feel-bad nostalgia.

Like most of Lee's work, this bites off more than it can chew, but the breadth and energy are impressive.

Spike lee directs this less like a serial killer film, and more like a time capsule. The cast does good work, but no one person is a standout.