Film may rely too much on charms of young actors

Starring Jennifer Hudson, Jordin Sparks, Anthony Mackie, Jeffrey Wright, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbale, Skylan Brooks. Directed by George Tillman Jr.

Rated R for language, some drug use and sexual content. At xxx theater. 1 hour, 48 minutes.

Bottom line: Needs greater focus in its storytelling

by David Rooney

Hollywood Reporter

The no-win contest in the title of George Tillman Jr.’s “The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete” points to the tough reality of life among the drugs and guns of the Brooklyn projects as the insurmountable challenge faced by two kids forced to fend for themselves one summer. But the real defeat in this ambling fairy tale of hardship, abandonment and resilience is that two potentially winning central characters — and the tender young actors who play them — are let down by a programmed screenplay that’s short on narrative muscle.

Scripted by Michael Starrbury, the film’s gritty surfaces and unsparing depiction of children exposed to crime and squalor will possibly invite comparison to Lee Daniels’ “Precious.” But while the early scenes lay promising foundations, earnest sentiment gradually takes over. The presence of not one but two “American Idol” alumnae, Jennifer Hudson and Jordin Sparks, as women put through the grinder of inner-city life, might bolster commercial prospects, though this looks more likely to find a receptive audience on cable.

Returning home distraught after learning he’s flunking eighth grade, Mister (Skylan Brooks) finds his mother Gloria (Hudson) in a doped-up haze. He’s left to babysit a 9-year-old Korean kid, Pete (Ethan Dizon), whose mother is also a junkie. Having seen neighbors’ children hauled off by protective services to a grim-sounding local shelter, Mister goes into independent survival mode when Gloria is arrested for prostitution and drug use. Sullenly at first, and then with increasing big-brother commitment, he takes Pete under his wing.

However, the big problem here is that not much happens in the protracted midsection. Tillman and Starrbury fail to instill dramatic forward motion, so the film idles for much of its running time, relying on the not inconsiderable charms of young actors Brooks and Dizon.

Mister’s vulnerability and longing for a cleaner, more stable life surfaces when he re-encounters Alice (Sparks), a young woman who found a ticket out of the projects with a wealthy, white married lover. There’s warmth and gentleness in scenes where she does what she can to help the boys.

A more poetic though skimpily developed strand involves Mister’s dream of landing a role on a TV series to shoot in Beverly Hills. The audition date gives the kids a goal to aim for as they endure the summer heat with whatever food they can rustle up in an apartment that becomes sweltering once the utilities have been cut off.

In addition to its episodic structure, Starrbury’s screenplay suffers from occasional heavy-handedness, notably in the fate of Alice, or when it’s revealed that Pete’s neighbor is a witchy female child molester. Still, this is a touching portrayal of friendship and loyalty between kids thrust together by unhappy circumstances.

Working with cinematographer Reed Morano, Tillman applies a slick visual sheen, bringing vivid textures to the tough neighborhood, the bleak public-housing corridors and shabby apartments. The director perhaps attempts to address pacing issues by layering a mix of hip-hop tracks with original scoring by executive producer Alicia Keys and Mark Isham. But at close to two hours, the film cries out for greater economy and focus in its storytelling.