Field78 I love to take time and effort to praise movies, but sometimes I just can't help having to write a negative review about a bad film, just to get it out of my system. Even if I've seen it nearly 20 years ago. Hot Boyz was probably one of those films that came in the slipstream of a long string of successful ghetto movies, started by Boyz 'n the Hood and Menace II Society. And boy does it show that inspiration was getting thin by that time. This movie is a testament to the lack of talent of almost everyone who was involved (save for some exceptions).The 90s and 00s were also the age where so many movies were released that we got a direct-to-video/dvd segment as a result, and it's not hard to see that this movie ended up somewhere on the bottom shelf of the video store. Musicians who make the jump to movies are very often cast solely on their instant recognizability, and rappers are often bumped to actors to give the movie a bit of street cred and realism. Unfortunately, the biggest issue with that is that most of them can't act. If it's just one bad actor within an ensemble cast of fine thespians, you'll get away with it, but when an entire movie is written, directed and performed by rappers, it's not hard to see what can go wrong. Don't get me wrong, there are countless movies made on the streets by non-professional casts and crews that turned out raw, gritty and great, but Hot Boyz clearly wasn't one of them. In fact, the only reason why I remember this B-movie-in-the-worst-meaning-of-the-word at all is because of how horribly bad it was.The story itself is pretty basic: a young man from the ghetto wants to become a rapper, but the promise of easy money lures him into a life of crime, despite the best efforts of the people around him. The biggest basic problem is that the script is badly written, and is full of clichés and hammy dialogue. The drama is unintentionally funny, and some scenes are so cringe-worthy that it is hard to discern what is worse: the writing, acting or direction. Silkk Tha Shocker as the leading man is sadly the worst actor of the cast with his monotonous and non-charismatic performance, although the rest of the actors seem to do their best to keep up. Samuel L. Jackson once said that he doesn't want to appear in movies with rappers solely to lend them some credibility, but it seems like this is exactly the reason for Gary Busey and C. Thomas Howell to be in this movie. Jeff Speakman has a brief role as a wise master, probably because he enjoyed some B-movie success in those days, and it enabled the makers to feature some martial arts for no reason. Snoop Dogg is also in it, but I fortunately don't remember him as particularly bad (his laid-back attitude is one of the reasons why I can never get mad at him).If there is one positive thing to mention, it would be the crazy car chase that the movie opens with. It looks pretty spectacular, but it also makes it painfully clear that the most talented people working on this movie were part of the stunt team. The other thing that comes to mind is the comic relief from one of the supporting characters who has a stammer, which is of course a cheap trick to score some giggles, but at times, it worked. But not nearly enough.Normally I'd be closing by saying that this movie should be avoided at all costs, but it seems there is no need. Time hasn't been kind to this unmemorable piece of amateur filming, and it has probably never reached a large audience anyway. It now remains merely as a reminder for me that there are much better movies in this genre. Come to think of it, Boyz n The Hood is on Netflix. I've been avoiding that movie for far too long, and it's about time that I gave it a shot (edit: and it was great).

Diagnosis Pete This flick has the potential of a classic with Gary Busey and Snoop Dogg, but I ended up wondering why was the film made. The script is terrible, and characters don't develop, they only have one emotion or goal, with the lead character Kool (Vyshonne Miller) becoming hell-bent on revenge for the death of his girlfriend, ITS HEART BREAKING STUFF.However it's worth watching just to see Busey's double take when a prostitute undresses in front of him (Plus it has nothing to do with the plot). Oh and I was in hysterics when MC Hammer look-alike Saint fell into the sea, what a stunner. Busey should know better than make this tat.

heilborn This is an interesting look at society from a rapper's point of view. Acting is just passable, direction is spotty, and camera work is often curious. Some of the angles used do not seem to be used for any particular purpose. The plot seems a bit forced, unnatural, and even unrealistic--but that's my point of view, not the rapper's.

dee.reid SPOILER ALERT I just got done watching Hot Boyz after renting from the video store and I must say that I was quite impressed. It has a great cast from most of the No Limit rappers like Silkk the Shocker, Snoop Dogg, Mystikal and C-Murder. Back to the movie. It starts out with a guy getting chased by at least 20 police cars. Then Kool (Silkk the Shocker) start narrating about the film. It turns out that Kool's girlfriend Lashawna was arrested for the murder of an L.A. police officer when she was actually the witness. Kool is mad about this and talks to a another cop (Gary Busey) about trying to get her out of jail. He tells him the only way to get her out is to find the drug dealer who ordered the hit on the cop that was killed. Kool reluctantly agrees to go and find the drug dealer. While this is going on Lashawna is beaten to death in jail by another cop who actually ordered the hit on the now dead cop. Kool is outraged about this and calls together his friends and all of them together form the Hot Boyz who go around stealing drugs and money and selling it. As I said before Hot Boyz is and ok film and so I give it a 3 and half out of 5.