In The Mix

Review by Clint Morris

It use to be that that grand fanfare that kicked off a Twentieth Century Fox movie – you know the one? It’s synonymous with the Star Wars trilogy, if anything – was an indication that you were about to watch something pretty special. Nowadays, it seems, they’re tacking the once stirring starting sequence onto anything that fits within the running time guidelines.

Case in point: In the Mix, a fairly standard rom-com-thriller-musical starring popular young singer Usher (he’s no longer using his surname, Raymond, it seems) as a disco scratcher that gets in over-his-head with the mafia.

When sir-mix-a-lot, Darrel (Usher) takes a bullet for a family friend and local mafia boss (Chazz Palminteri), he becomes an instant hero – especially in the eyes of the don’s college-aged daughter (Emmanuelle Chriqui, who ironically looks a lot like The Soprano’s Jamie-Lynn Sigler).

Convinced that someone is out to get the family, the big man orders his daughter to take a bodyguard with her at all times. Not surprisingly, she chooses Darrell, over one of her Dad’s atypical-looking thugs, and together he tags along with her to all her usual digs – yoga classes, lunch with the girls, and ultimately, back to his place.

What follows is an entertaining, but rather indecisive, hour-and-a-half diversion that can’t decide whether it’s a thriller, a comedy, or a romance. If it had just stuck to one of those genres – for instance, a love story between the two lead characters might have rang truer had it not been blemished by silly jokes or impromptu gunfire OR had the film simply been a serious film, and ditched all the hokey stuff – it would’ve been a much better film.

Thing is, and let’s forget about what was said about the great Fox opening sequence above, this isn’t too bad. Critics are going to shoot it down, sure, but at the end of the day, even they’ll be able to see that it’s carcass had a bit more meat than at first perceived.

On the other hand, director Ron Underwood has made a living out of making enjoyable leave-your-brain-at-the-door movies – like Tremors, Hearts & Souls and City Slickers - and he again takes some thin material and turns it into something at least, watchable, and inoffensively enjoyable. It doesn’t hurt that he has cast the stunning Emmanuelle Chriqui as his female lead either – she could be heading up a commercial, and eyes would still be stuck to the screen.

2.5 out of 5

In The Mix
Australian release: 4th May, 2006
Cast: Usher Raymond, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Chazz Palminteri, Anthony Fazio, Matt Gerald
Director: Ron Underwood
Website: Click here.