Critic Reviews

Building blocks of tale are not new, but there's an appealingly rough-hewn and convincing tone to the proceedings.

Amiably unvarnished... Much more successful than most other films that deal with daily life in the projects.

Unlike most inner-city stories that come out of Hollywood, this feels like the real thing.

Poverty, capable of stunting lives, can also blight films. A case in point is the earnest and heartfelt but undernourished and plodding Off the Hook.

Watstein handily directs and edits around his screenplay's sappier elements.

The fact that this is somebody's real-life story up on there the screen doesn't necessarily guarantee it's an especially fresh story.

Overlong and not well-acted.