Certain words come to mind when describing this wild and lively cultural stew of tenement junkies, crooked cops, and dysfunctional family relations in the inner city melting pot of Brooklyn, New York: words like profane, chaotic, outrageous, rude, crude, loud, amoral, and abrasive. But the film is also energetic, and certainly entertaining if approached in the proper frame of mind. Most of it resembles a warped Italian-American music video, with lots of bright, bouncy Mediterranean pop songs playing in the background while all sorts of Brooklyn low-lifes hurl verbal abuse at each other. But the teenage street punk hero of the film's title is immune to every insult, and he's a troublemaker more by accident than intent, breezing his way through one crisis after another with the nonchalant ease of total ignorance. Some viewers will likely be offended, but even at its most crass and unsubtle the film is difficult to criticize. It never once takes itself seriously, and like Spike's phony boxing matches the whole thing is obviously all a put-on.
Review of Spike of Bensonhurst
