AllMovie

Writer/director Scott Farrell has assembled a genuine if modest art film that is being marketed as a violent urban gang movie. Contrary to the conventions of that often grotesque genre, Vicious Circle has no hip-hop, no rap, no drive-by shootings, no melodrama, and very little gun play. What it does have is a thoughtfully intense performance by Bradley Gregg and a script that deals with several emotionally topical issues at once. You need to pay attention; Farrell asks difficult questions, and even may have found an answer or two, in telling a story that breaks with traditional methods. Some of it is dramatic, a little of it is even funny -- the star of Carlos' TV show is frighteningly hilarious -- but all of it is surprisingly smart, given the brazenly violent packaging. The irony of it all is, Farrell's career is reflected in his fictitious characters' life. He's made a graceful film about social dangers that's being marketed as just another violent action movie.