Its low-rent cast and unappealing key art won't help at the box office, but viewers who stumble across it on cable may be pleasantly, if mildly, surprised.
Director Baget clearly strives to replicate the ersatz Dixie flavors of "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" right down to the vintage '30s music in a film set in the 1970s, but nailing the Coen brothers' precisely calibrated style is far harder than it looks.
30
Village VoiceErnest Hardy
Village VoiceErnest Hardy
The film, directed by Jesse Baget, aims to be a satiric look at racism but at every turn flaunts the laws of logic and believability.
The credibility is low, the idealism high and the sentiment through the roof in Jesse Baget's slender, micro-budgeted comedy Cellmates, a schematic parable about racism and (less overtly) illegal immigration.
12
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine
The film offers Tom Sizemore the perfect opportunity to prove himself worthy of a comeback. Alas, he fails spectacularly.