Directed by: Oz Scott
Starring: Richard Pryor, Cicely Tyson, George Coe, Robert Christian, Bill Quinn
Richard Pryor has enough natural charm and charisma to pull off some of the dramatic moments Bustin' Loose has to offer. The comic scenes fall flat. What is left is an uneven comedy that wants to give us the funny Pryor and the serious Pryor all in one ungainly package. Many of the comic scenes are cringe-inducing, while some of the dramatic ones are moving.
Pryor plays Joe Braxton, a lifelong criminal serving probation under the watch of a cold, by-the-book probation officer (Christian). Joe is strongarmed into driving a dilapidated bus full of delinquent teens to Washington State because their city-operated home is closed down. Vivan (Tyson), who runs the home, wants to move the kids to her childhood home for a fresh start. The probation officer is Vivian's boyfriend, and not exactly thrilled that his woman is moving across the country. The kids seem to cover all of the archetypes of delinquency, including a firebug, a girl who carries around a large teddy bear, a blind kid who wants to learn to drive, and another teen girl who frequently propositions the boys (and eventually Joe) for sex.
The bus is so run down it looks like it won't make it out of the garage, let alone across the country. Joe at first doesn't take much interest in the lives of the kids, but, not surprisingly, he warms up to them. Yet, this change of heart isn't as unconvincingly obligatory as it sounds. I was touched by the way Joe masterfully handles the teen who wants to have sex with him. However, for every one of those well-handled scenes, there are ones in which Joe plays strip poker with the kids and later encounters the KKK after the bus breaks down. These sequences don't arrive at satisfactory payoffs. They just sort of hang out there on the vine. The idea of Joe playing strip poker with kids is creepy and in another movie might get Joe thrown back in jail.
The kids, and eventually Vivian, grow to love Joe, who learns to finally look out for others for the first time in his life. Pryor is adept at handling the transition, although there isn't any chemistry between he and Tyson. Their romance seems forced and by rote. The probation officer also undergoes an expected change of heart, even if we really don't buy it, especially after all that transpired before.
Bustin' Loose makes the kids likable enough. Sure, they cause problems, but they aren't incorrigible lost souls. So, we like them the same way we liked the Bad News Bears and we root for them to have a better life. There is plenty about Bustin' Loose to like, and enough to dislike to consider it a near miss.
Pryor plays Joe Braxton, a lifelong criminal serving probation under the watch of a cold, by-the-book probation officer (Christian). Joe is strongarmed into driving a dilapidated bus full of delinquent teens to Washington State because their city-operated home is closed down. Vivan (Tyson), who runs the home, wants to move the kids to her childhood home for a fresh start. The probation officer is Vivian's boyfriend, and not exactly thrilled that his woman is moving across the country. The kids seem to cover all of the archetypes of delinquency, including a firebug, a girl who carries around a large teddy bear, a blind kid who wants to learn to drive, and another teen girl who frequently propositions the boys (and eventually Joe) for sex.
The bus is so run down it looks like it won't make it out of the garage, let alone across the country. Joe at first doesn't take much interest in the lives of the kids, but, not surprisingly, he warms up to them. Yet, this change of heart isn't as unconvincingly obligatory as it sounds. I was touched by the way Joe masterfully handles the teen who wants to have sex with him. However, for every one of those well-handled scenes, there are ones in which Joe plays strip poker with the kids and later encounters the KKK after the bus breaks down. These sequences don't arrive at satisfactory payoffs. They just sort of hang out there on the vine. The idea of Joe playing strip poker with kids is creepy and in another movie might get Joe thrown back in jail.
The kids, and eventually Vivian, grow to love Joe, who learns to finally look out for others for the first time in his life. Pryor is adept at handling the transition, although there isn't any chemistry between he and Tyson. Their romance seems forced and by rote. The probation officer also undergoes an expected change of heart, even if we really don't buy it, especially after all that transpired before.
Bustin' Loose makes the kids likable enough. Sure, they cause problems, but they aren't incorrigible lost souls. So, we like them the same way we liked the Bad News Bears and we root for them to have a better life. There is plenty about Bustin' Loose to like, and enough to dislike to consider it a near miss.
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