I love Richard Pryor, but this particular project obviously didn't pan out. He has some funny scenes, but altogether he seems humiliated to be in the movie. This would've worked out better, if it were just an after-school special. The problem is it tries to be a comedy, but the tone is way too uneven. The tone is right in the first half, when Pryor is a slick con man with a short temper. I really got a kick out of the courtroom scene, in which he begs to be sentenced for 5 years in jail, purposely to do community service instead. But once the film takes a serious turn, it never recovers. That's when the story becomes sappy, sentimental and manipulative. Sure, it's quite touching when Pryor begins to like the kids and he even teaches them lessons on life, but I'm just being manipulated by the director. I'm a peer educator, I've worked with dysfunctional children--they don't become nice that easily! Once that kid is corrupted, it takes a lot more than a simple pep talk to turn him/her into a decent, upstanding citizen. So the plot is expectedly predictable. I'm sure some will think much better of the film, since Pryor shows his more serious side. In this particular film, he should've stuck to comedy. In every scene where he gets emotional, his voice rises to a comic pitch and it ruins the moments. But as I said, he was probably humiliated to be in the movie and I can't judge him as a lousy dramatic actor, simply from his work in this particular film. I haven't seen it yet, but he made a movie in the 70s with Paul Schraeder, co-starring with Harvey Keitel, called "Blue Collar" in which he gave a dramatic performance. He may have been good in that film. And last but not least, the soundtrack is terrible! I understand music like that was typical of the movies of the 70s and early 80s, but I wanted to shoot myself every time I heard the music! It just dampened the mood of every scene, as if the film wasn't uneven enough! If you want to see Richard Pryor at his best, check out one of his concert films. I compare how much I laughed when watching his first concert film and how much I laughed during "Bustin' Loose," and there's a huge difference. The film has its moments, and is not altogether terrible, but it's only OK and very forgettable.
My score: 5 (out of 10)
My score: 5 (out of 10)