Jill Hennessy in Row Your Boat (1998)

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Review

A fairly sensitive grade-B with Jon Bon Jovi. Although the movie is uninspired and predictable, Bon Jovi did a good job.

Bon Jovi plays a gentle guy who has just been released from prison after serving a five year stretch in which he refused to rat out his brother (William Forsythe). Gee, there's something new, eh. It's part of the unwritten code which says:

· movie heroes coming out of jail never really "did it".

· and they never rat out the guys who really did do it.

After his release, he is determined to go straight, and not to get back into his brother's rackets. He doesn't even tell his brother about it when he's released early.

But he finds that the honest life is really tough for an ex-con. For a while, he actually lives on the streets and washes car windows at stop lights, until one day when he chances to wash his brother's window. He continues to refuse to accept money and crooked jobs from his brother. Well, he mostly refuses, except when desperate.

In the meantime, he finds a job that even homeless ex-cons can get hired for: doing the U.S. Census in crummy neighborhoods. For eight bucks an hour he gets the right to deal with hostile street thugs, people who don't speak English, and others who don't trust him.

One of the foreigners is lovely Bai Ling, playing a Chinese peasant girl who came to the United States to be the bride of a successful older man who treats her like a possession. I think you can figure out most of the rest. Not a bad film, not a good one. The film is unrated, but is probably in the PG-13 range.

Nudity Report: None

Critics Vote: no major reviews

IMDB Summary: 5.9 out of 10

Box Office: NA

DVD Info: No widescreen, no meaningful features.

Written by: Scoopy ...courtesy of Scoopy.net