The press notes describe Turn It Up as two types of films - an Urban Drama and a Street Action film. Problem is, it's hard to even classify this as a movie. Why it didn't go straight to film is beyond me as the acting is horrible and the plot is so muddled and disorderly, the result of a combination of two scripts into one.

Turn It Up stars Ja Rule as Diamond, a struggling rap star trying to break into the cutthroat music biz - his best friend Gage (Pras) tries to help him by making a few shady deals and earning money the easy way. Whereas Turn It Up would like to be a movie about the tumultuous music business and the mean streets, it turns out as a poorly acted (the result of hiring actual rappers trying to act) and poorly scripted (the combination of two scripts) movie with very little direction. The movie starts by trying to show Diamond recording a demo to get a record deal and then cuts to Gage and Diamond running jobs dealing drugs. Diamond's mother abrubtly dies and later his father (Vondie Curtis Hall), absent for years, re-enters his life for really no reason at all. The whole movie ends up with no straight plot and keeps going off on tangents and makes no sense.

New Line's first mistake was deciding to release this movie in theaters - a direct-to-video release would have probably made more sense. Director/writer Robert Adetuyi's first mistake was casting two real rappers in the roles of rappers in this movie - whoever thought that rappers could act needs to rethink that bright idea. His second mistake was combining two scripts - one of an aspiring rap star and one of a father/son reunion - into one movie. The combination of these three main problems contribute to one of the worst movies of the summer and one that should be avoided at all costs.

Genres: Drama
Rated: R - http://www.outermost.net/mra/images/turnitup.gif
Runtime: 85 minutes
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