Review

Serial-killer buffs beware: Summer of Sam deals with the famed Son of Sam mostly on the periphery. The main focus of the film is the atmosphere of fear, paranoia and rage that he helped instill in that summer of 1977 in New York City. A handful of excellent performances -- most notably Leguizamo as a weak-willed adulterer and Brody as a punk outsider -- and Lee's customary stylish visuals inject a bristling energy into this overlong, and at times meandering, drama. Two terrific set pieces (both accompanied by classic Who songs) and the frightening but nonexploitative Son of Sam killings are other big pluses; this isn't Lee's best work, and it's frustratingly uneven, but as an evocation of a specific time and place, Summer of Sam is successful.