AllMovie

In Summer of Sam, Spike Lee revisits the conditions that made his Do the Right Thing one of the most bracing films of the 1980s: a sweltering New York City summer in which tempers flare and bigotry is agitated. In this case, it's the summer of 1977, when David Berkowitz, aka "the Son of Sam," terrorized New York with his parked-car assassinations and bizarre media screeds, forcing thousands indoors and inspiring numerous paranoid witch hunts. While Lee's films often showcase the worst in people, usually with thought-provoking results, there's so much yelling in this particular film that it's deafening, and eventually numbing. Each provincial Italian-American who walks Lee's Bronx streets is forever competing to act more ignorant than the next, treating women poorly and perpetuating "whassamatterwityou?" stereotypes. It may be no coincidence that Lee's first film with no major African-American characters is his most distant. At 142 minutes, it becomes sprawling and repetitive, trying also to examine drug use, punk rock, orgies, pornography, homosexuality and marital infidelity. Still, Son of Sam is a researched tableau of New York during a crucial old-meets-new crossroads, and in this sense it will fascinate students of cultural history. Plus, the director's trademark camera tricks and incisive commentary will please those who consider any Lee outing worth a look. For those wondering about the absence of Lee regular John Turturro, wait for the closing credits -- he voices the dog that orders Berkowitz to kill.