Fighting Words

This film is remarkable in that it is both a highly engaging work of film-making but also a great poetic work. The actors, too, pull off a verbal tour de force, especially in scenes when they are "making up" poems off the tops of their heads. If you like past-faced, verbal action, this is your flick. C Thomas Howell is superb as the nasty, too successful "street poet". Writer director Paul Edwards delivers outstanding performances and a nuanced look at the modern phenomenon known as slam poetry. This is also a love story, a film of self-discovery, and a rumination on the creative process. I highly recommend it.