Review

A fine cast brings unexpected life to this boisterous and funny crime comedy set in 1950s Harlem. Whitaker is well cast as a naive, religious virgin who becomes involved with luscious swindler Givens after she arrives in New York with a shipment of gold from a Southern robbery. Her appearance sets off a wild series of events as seemingly everyone in the Big Apple is after the booty. In a surprising comic turn, Givens gives a wonderfully controlled and vampish performance as the foxy femme fatale. A colorful version of a Chester Hines story, and every bit as successful as the author's Cotton Comes to Harlem.