25th Hour (2002)

Edward Norton rules in “25th Hour,” a knockout post-9/11 New York drama about a dealer on his last free day before staring a 7-year prison stint. His Monty is a brilliant guy who dumped his gifts and turned stupid and lazy by pushing dope. That’s one of the marvels of Spike Lee’s in-your-face drama, Monty is likable, but guilty, he’s never celebrated, and as one of his best friends says, he deserves the millstone. Monty comes to recognize that. The 25 hours sees Monty reconnect with his best chums – a high school teacher (Philip Seymour Hoffman) lusting for a student and a narcissistic stockbroker (Barry Pepper), wonder if his girlfriend (Rosario Dawson) ratted on him, and console his heartbroken pop (Brian Cox). Meanwhile, the attacks of that awful Tuesday morning weigh harsh, how could they not, and how could Lee – a New Yorker – ignore the wound? Brutally honest and caustically funny, “Hour” is anchored by a beaut of a long nightclub scene where Monty learns prison isn’t his only worry. Lee is a genius at showing smart guys getting torched by their own sins. He ought to adapt Ellroy’s Underworld USA trilogy. A