HOODLUM (1997) ** Folks in Harlem didn't have much money in the wake of the Great Depression, but what little they had allegedly went to the (illegal) lottery in an effort to break out. Against all odds this drew the attention of some very bad characters, or in this case good actors occasionally acting badly. Lawrence Fishburne tries to keep black money with the black mob while battling the psychotic Tim Roth (Dutch Shultz), and with a wary eye on apparently omnipotent Andy Garcia (Lucky Luciano). William Atherton, as in his even more offensive role as the EPA in Ghostbusters, is the face of Whitebread government gone moldy. These guys have all played slight variations on these roles before, and certainly better and more consistently. They all rise to the dramatic heights demanded on occasion, Roth only leaves one wondering how Schultz wasn't hit immediately and repeatedly by everyone, but others appear cartoonish, and not even very inspired cartoons. The script lets them down at other times, moving from hit to hit, explosion to streetfight, without so much as flattering the audience into thinking that anyone thought any of it was believable, and at the expense of a plot or development towards that ideal. When Fishburne "changes" the metamorphosis is brought to our attention by a drunk guy who had read the rest of the script and so knew that the change must have already happened.