Get ready for every low-wattage indie film Adrien Brody ever made to hit theaters with the big "Academy Award-winner Adrien Brody" line slapped on the ad. This is the first out of the gate, a go-nowhere pre-Pianist star-crossed-lovers story that has been sitting around so long you can see the World Trade Center in the background of one shot.
Charlotte Ayanna is an Ivy League student who gets caught up in lowlife Adrien Brody's only-in-the-movies world of petty crime and literary aspiration. Ayanna falls for him, he treats her badly, and the dialogue gets goofier and goofier. Only when veteran Pam Grier--who may well be the coolest woman alive--strides onscreen for her small role as a vice detective does the movie show any spark of life that doesn't rely on Brody getting shirtless. Otherwise, this is Love the Dull Way.