When I stuck SHADOWBOXER on I wasn't quite sure what to expect. What I got was a lame action comedy with a large cast of bizarre characters and plenty of graphic sex scenes which add nothing to the storyline and do nothing for the viewer either. The result is one of the weirdest, most amateurish Hollywood films I've seen, a frankly embarrassing blot on the careers of those involved.A slumming-it Cuba Gooding Jr. plays a top assassin who just so happens to be having an affair with the miscast Helen Mirren, another assassin who is dying of cancer. Just a word about Mirren in this film: horrible. Her sex scenes with Gooding Jr. are frankly one of the most excruciating things I can remember watching in recent years and merely mentioning them makes me shudder. I don't know why these posh British actresses keep getting cast in action movies (Mirren went on to be in the RED films and Emily Blunt is another) but they stand out like sore thumbs and are always very wooden and unconvincing.The rest of the film is a mish-mash of supposed funny scenes, violence, and plenty of bad taste. Poor old Stephen Dorff plays the villain of the piece and has an embarrassing nude scene. The script is terrible with dialogue that rings hollow throughout. The less said about Macy Gray and Joseph Gordon-Levitt the better. SHADOWBOXER is the kind movie I wish I'd never had the misfortune to see.

Now we know what a big budget Ed Wood movie would look like. Working from a script by an Academy Award nominated writer, with two Academy Award winning actors and a Spirit Award nominated cinematographer, director Lee Daniels manages to deliver a laughable mess. The story seems to take place in some bizarro world where everyone wears too much makeup, Doogie Howser lives with a grotesque crackhead, and most of the gangsters act like girlie boys. Cuba Gooding, Jr. spends most of the move looking annoyed or embarrassed. Joseph Gordon Levitt, Monique and Stephen Dorff give game performances, but even the great Helen Mirren can't overcome Daniels' ham-handed direction. While Shadowboxer displays all of Ed Wood's incompetence and unintentional humor, it has none of the charm that made Mr. Wood a cult favorite.

There's no question of including a spoiler. Frankly I didn't find a discernible understandable story line, so how could there be a spoiler. The only reason this film got a "1" rating from me, is because I think any glimpse of Helen Mirren, however unpleasant, is worth something. Not much, though, in this case. Helen must have needed the money to take part in this fiasco. As others have said, this is easily one of the worst films ever produced. It masquerades under false colours for one thing.Really, it should be marketed as pornography and sold only in porn shops. I can conceive that some pornography might not be considered entirely offensive to some people, but this film seems determined to offer something offensive to everyone. If you are a Helen Mirren fan, as I am, my advice is to forget this one. I reran one of her DVI Joan Tennison (Prime Suspect} films to take the bad taste out of my mouth. So why did I check the "spoiler" box? Some folks might interpret this entire commentary a "spoiler"!

This has to be one of the worst films I have ever seen that has genuine actors in it.Its not even so bad its laughable its just so bad, period.There are so many more movies to see before renting this god awful film. What were Helen Mirren and Cuba Gooding Jnr. thinking when they agreed to do this ? Must looked OK in script form. Rent any of these before renting this.....Tomb Raider2,Biker Boyz,anything with Whoopi Goldberg (that includes A Knight in Camelot but maybe not Sister Act II)Off now to watch Jaws 3, Dennis Quaid never made a bad movie ? Did he ??? Where's my copy of Zardoz.