FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Lela The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Sameer Mujtaba There is an old saying in Newark, New Jersey that "the only way that an incumbent leaves office is either death or conviction." Street Fight, a documentary following the 2002 mayoral election of Newark works to address and highlight that issue. Marshall Curry, the director of the documentary, follows Cory Booker, the challenger to long-term incumbent, Sharpe James. Booker, the son of civil rights activists, grew up in a predominantly white suburb north of Newark. He was a high school all-American football player and graduated from Yale University. He attempts to unseat James because of the lack of change he sees from the current mayor. He works to unite the people through a grassroots movement against James, the man who has been in office since 1970.Street Fight attempts to reveal the harsh realities and the pseudo-democracy that exists in modern day local politics. Curry argues that local politics are not as fair as they seem to be, a claim that he supports with solid evidence through Booker's campaign. Though Curry only shows footage in support of Booker, it is not difficult to distinguish the actual differences between both candidates' approaches.Booker approaches his campaign the best way that a challenger against a long-term incumbent can, through a mainly grass-roots movement. He spends his time with the people who he knows have been the most negatively affected by James, the poor and the working class. Sharpe clearly favors the higher class above the lower and Booker cleverly uses that to his advantage. He realizes that he must first get his name out to the masses, so he does it in the most reasonable, old-fashioned way, door-to-door campaigning. By continuously showing Booker actively interacting with citizens of Newark and expressing his concerns, Curry enforces that Booker is running an honest, down-to-earth campaign. He does not waste his efforts trying to convince those who he knows he cannot, rather he takes a more logical step and attempts to acquaint himself with the common people. In a further attempt to connect with the people, Booker had been living Brick Towers, one of the worst public housing buildings in Newark.Not only does Curry assert that Booker runs a clean, honest campaign through his actions, he reveals that James is cheating his way to victory. One of the film's main arguments is that Sharpe James used threats and force to bully Booker and his supporters into ending his campaign. This also furthers the claim that local politics are an ugly business and that politicians will go to any length to secure their positions. Throughout the campaign, Booker, Curry, supporters and other camera men are assaulted by police who support James. Though they are not doing anything illegal, the police interrupt them under orders given by the mayor. Furthermore, many local businesses that have expressed support of Booker whether it be through word of mouth or signs in their stores, are threatened with being closed down by the city if they do not revoke their beliefs. These are not empty threats either, as a local car shop that had expressed prolonged support of Booker had been shut down by the government. Larger businesses are threatened with losing their government contracts, potentially losing them thousands of dollars.Booker and his supporters are assaulted and threatened not only indirectly by James and his hired muscle, but also directly. Curry portrays how James expresses hate towards Booker by using empty accusations and hateful speech. James goes to every extent to solidify his position, even slander Booker's name with claims that are not even true. He begins by claiming that Booker is a republican instead of a democrat, a claim that has no political backing. Eventually, Curry highlights the irrationality of James' claims by acknowledging that he goes to ridiculous extents to attack Booker. The mayor accuses James, clearly an African American, as being Jewish, white, and also gay. The most controversial claim that he makes results in a central theme of the documentary; James questions whether or not Booker is "black enough" to fairly represent the people. As uninformed as the claim is, it brings up one of the most discussed topics of the campaign. James, a man born and raised in Newark, is concerned that Booker is not the right kind of man to lead the city because of his upbringing and light skin.Ultimately, Curry concludes that politics are far more than who has the best agenda. Elections go far beyond who has done the best campaigning or who has collected the most funds. As Street Fight documents, many times elections come down to personal battles, with incumbents having an unfair advantage due to their connections and resources. In the resulting election of the documentary, Cory Booker ultimately loses by only around one thousand votes. Eventually, Booker does run again in the 2006 mayoral elections and wins by a landslide, proving that the political system is not as broken as Curry makes it out to seem; it is important to note that Sharpe James did not run for reelection that year. In the end, issues in politics will always exist. Campaigns will almost never be seen as fair. No matter how people attempt to address it, corruption and politicians go hand in hand. More often than not, election as close as the one between Booker and James may end up being nothing more than a street fight.

Rob Mulligan Anybody familiar with Michael Moore or Fredrick Wiseman or any other documentary filmmaker know that the documentary genre is a very powerful medium. I just watched the Film Street Fight, a film recommended to me by nice little online show called the Cinefiles, a group amateur critics who get together and talk about film. In their political documentary piece, they spent a good amount of time discussing the film and I said to myself, I have to see this film. The film is absolutely heartbreaking on how dirty a political campaign can be. With two political candidates of the same race running for major of Newark, NJ, the race turns into a battle of "authentic ethnicity". Cory Booker, the lighter skinned man running for mayor, runs a clean campaign about fighting against poverty and crime. I can't stress enough how good and powerful of a film this is…Check it out…And think to yourself…How far off is this going to be from the Hilary vs. Obama presidential campaign??? Oh yeah if you want to see the talk of the Cinefiles...either look it up on Youtube...Or go to myspace.com/cinefiles

fwomp Most politically charged films focus on corruption at the higher levels of state, but STREET FIGHT gives us a curb-side view of something much smaller ...and much more important.The 2002 Newark, New Jersey Mayoral race is something most voters in the U.S. could care less about. Why should someone in, say, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania pay attention to Newark's voting issues? Or someone in Fort Worth, Texas? Or San Francisco, California? Realistically, none of them would. But Newark is New Jersey's most populated city, and those in San Francisco and beyond might want to take a peak at what's happening to our democracy on a pseudo-microcosmic level.The film's primary focus is on Cory Booker, a Newark city councilman with his eye on the mayor's office. He's a Stanford and Yale graduate who lives in a slum within Newark. He's an idealist who's grown tired of his city's poor schools, poorer neighborhoods, and rising jobless rate. To get into the mayor's office, though, he'll have to unseat four-time incumbent Sharpe James, a man who's firmly entrenched within Newark's politics.We watch as writer/director/photographer Marshall Curry seeks to interview both sides of the race, first by checking in on Cory Booker's campaign, then by trying (in vain) to meet up with Sharpe James and his people. But once James' campaign personnel learn that Curry interviewed Booker already, he is immediately shunned and pushed aside (often in a very rough manner). Curry's camera is pushed around time and again, his microphone broken, and he's denied access to Sharpe James entirely. Even when Curry catches up with James at a public event, he's manhandled by Sharpe James' 'brute squad.' Most will find this very unsettling, as this is a publicly elected figure in a public place who is, in essence, acting like a thug.That we never touch on the political issues surrounding the campaign is interesting and absurd. These are both positive aspects of the film. It shows us how little our democracy means in many instances; it isn't the poor schools/neighborhoods/jobs that dominate voters' discussions, but who's "more republican" or "more black" (both candidates are black) or "campaign has more money" or "has visited a strip joint".In the end, we watch Sharpe James use every slimy tactic at his disposal in order to win votes (including bringing in paid James' supporters from out-of-state to help bolster support on election day). Booker doesn't win the election, thus giving the viewer a very negative view of New Jersey politics. But all is not gloom and doom.In 2006, Cory Booker returned to the mayoral race and took Newark by storm. Sharpe James uncharacteristically dropped from the race for unknown reasons while a new runner took up position against Booker, only to be squashed in the largest landslide win of any mayoral race in New Jersey history.But the bitter taste of the 2002 race still lingers in audiences minds after watching Street Fight. It's a tough film to watch, because we all want to believe that our democracy is flawless when, in fact, it has so many problems and shady dealings as to make one ill at the prospect.

noralee "Street Fight" is fascinating even for New Yorkers who knew the outcome of the Newark, NJ mayoral race in 2002 between long time incumbent Sharpe James and challenger Corey Booker. But what we thought we knew came from the local press and TV news and first time documentarian Marshall Curry almost single-camera-edly shows up The New York Times, The Newark Star Ledger and the broadcast outlets of the supposed media capital of the world in exposing what really goes on in a local election. I worked many years ago in the government office of a party boss in Queens (as was once said about Gov. Harriman and Tammany, like the clean collar on a dirty shirt) and I was still enthralled and taken aback by this raw examination of retail--and even more-- racial politics.Curry's motivation going in was quite simple on the face, that there hadn't been a close examination in a black majority city of a 21st century race between two African-American candidates. He claims he originally wanted to do a balanced portrait of both sides, but James's campaign instinctively and forcefully shuns him -- quite dramatically in the Land of the Free that is forcing democracy on the rest of the world-- so that his coverage is more and more pro-Booker, which drives the James forces to blockade him (much like Michael Moore going against General Motors in "Roger and Me").Becoming persona non grata despite the promises of modern ineffectual flaks, he has to personally admit defeat to cover all the campaign himself by enlisting another cameraman (white or black we aren't shown) to film James's epithet-filled public campaign appearances. He cagily gets the last word in against this censorship to catch on tape James's outrageous demagoguery that plays on prejudices spinning against an educated "carpetbagger" and outright lies about facts that is startling that the conventional media wasn't documenting. Curry effectively raises the charge against the media's apathy for a black vs. black race in a poor city --the other reporters only begin to get a little curious when they see Curry rough housed by James's henchmen.While the story line becomes the machine vs. the reformer, the details on just how a machine baldly runs roughshod using every card of power and class at its disposable is old-fashioned personal hardball against every visible supporter of Booker that is a powerful story on screen.This is visually even more pernicious than Claude Rains's tactics against Jimmy Stewart in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" and makes those polling strategists on "West Wing" look like press conference wimps. This is very much the Newark portrayed in "The Sopranos", where behind the scenes wheeling dealing contractors of dubious ethics bring out the money and the votes. You start feeling like you are watching an election in a third world country as Booker supporters put their livelihoods on the line in a graphically visual representation of the line from "Good Night, and Good Luck" "The fear is in this room."We do only get a brief biographical outline of each candidate, which for all of Booker's earnestness does leave him open to the blunt nativist charges of an inexperienced, suburban Ivy League outsider suddenly discovering the hood by theatrically living in a housing project, shockingly equating him to a Jew, playing on light vs. black-skinned perceptions. We do see his access to suburban campaign contributors. Amongst the insightful interviews with Booker's multi-racial supporters and campaign staff, the most moving were the tearful ones upset at these charges. One woman is in excruciating pain as she protests against the contempt for him as a role model for young black men: "We keep telling them to get educated and then this happens when they do." The audience gasped when at the end of the campaign each side seeks outside supporters and the Rev. Al Sharpton, no stranger to fomenting racial division in the NY area, comes down from his suburban NJ home to support the Mayor.As a film, this works more than just as a PBS Frontline episode with excellent use of editing and music building suspense through the chronology, though it does seem to be a Booker in 2006 campaign film at the end.Even though my husband has worked under five NYC mayors and could relate to how bureaucracy can be politically manipulated, he felt there was not enough insight on campaign strategy, preferring the approach in "The War Room", which I haven't seen completely and wasn't able to find to watch in a timely fashion for review comparison. He wanted to get a better understanding from the inside of the campaign decisions. We saw this film at a crowded pre-Oscar run in NYC with a very responsive, racially mixed audience including many Newarkers. The guy next to me felt the film left out a key reason for Booker's loss -- that he had neglected to drum up voter registration, which James's forces had marshaled in advance. This film certainly made me wish that someone had been similarly documenting the 2000 Presidential election in Florida as one wonders how much of American balloting would stand up to monitoring, though the Justice Dept. was barely of help in Newark on Election Day.