Morris from America

Morris from America_360P

As someone who lived overseas for two years as an African American adolescent and had to adjust to a new culture, living with my dad and just trying to fit in while being myself, this movie spoke so much to me. I appreciated the simplicity of the film which made it even more real for me. Character development was great and there was a good sense of not knowing what was going to happen next. The actor who played Morris was excellent as well as the actress who played his friend. The movie ran just the right amount of time and the ending was great. In all just a great indie movie. Again I feel like I lived it so I guess I'm bias in my rating... The movie awesome!

Really lovely film about growing up, feeling different, parenting and American vs. world culture. Spot on performances from Robinson and Christmas. It might be misogynist and construed as anti-European, but I thought of it more from Morris's perspective. He's young and confused, so why not depict the world as a hostile place. It shows Germans being strangely ignorant, fetishizing Black people and being rude, so.. this isn't a movie for Germans. ..Should have at least had the tutor be a German.. But it's a great movie about a young American. Killer soundtrack, visually on point, strong leads. My apologies to Germany, but I loved it.

source: Morris from America

I admittedly loved this mostly for the use of German and the German feel, as I used to live as an expat in Germany, and my daughter was young there. I enjoyed the father-son relationship and seeing the boy struggle with who he was and how he felt about the girl.

I was very excited to see this movie. It sounded interesting and I have never heard of this concept. The movie started off good, you felt bad for the kid because he lived in Germany where he barely knows anyone. He meets a girl and he instantly likes her. I hated the personality of this girl. She did a lot of mean things to the kid, but he still wanted to get with her. She is 16 and she smokes and does hardcore drugs. It was just very upsetting that at such a young age she did this. Then she tried to get the main kid to do them too but he was smart enough to not do any of this stuff. The movie was just overall boring and upsetting to watch. The movie was labeled as a comedy movie but it was not funny at all. I would not recommend this movie to anyone, it is just a waste of time. I will never watch this movie again.

Curtis (Craig Robinson) is a football (soccer) coach in Germany. His wife is gone and he is a single parent trying to raise 13 year old Morris (Markees Christmas). Morris has a private tutor (Carla Juri) and is crushing on a 15 year old girl he met at the teen activity center. However Katrin (Lina Keller) is being his friend part time, as she still wants to maintain her social standing with her own group, less accepting of Morris. This is a coming of age drama. I was expecting a cultural difference, stranger in a strange land type of comedy and it wasn't there. It was closer to a tragedy with Curtis not getting father of the year award. Morris has a potty mouth, and I am not sure how a 13 year old singing X-rated rap lyrics and rather poorly, is entertaining. Morris is willing to be emotionally abused, just to be near Katrin. What was their target audience? Guide: F-word. No sex. Magazine nudity.

What drew me into this movie was just how damn likable Markees Christmas was as Morris. He brought a relatability and a charisma to the character that made him a perfect lead character. I wouldn't say this was my favorite child actor performance of the year, but Christmas did an excellent job carrying the film, especially since this was his big screen debut. But I thought Craig Robinson was the highlight of the movie. He was truly fantastic. He was a great anchor of the film, perfectly playing a father struggling to still connect with his aging son. A lot of Robinson's acting is subtle. He gives just a little indication of what he's thinking, and it goes a long way for inferring what's going on in his head. Robinson proves himself in this film to be more than just a comedic talent, but to also have some dramatic chops. I would love to see him explore that avenue more in his movies.

Review: I quite enjoyed this simple but entertaining movie, which is based on an American thirteen year old, Morris Gentry (Markees Christmas), who lives with his single dad, Curtis (Craig Robinson), in Germany, after losing his mum. With his dad teaching football, Morris is taught German on a daily basis, and his tutor recommends a summer school, so he can meet other teenagers and make some friends. Although he is the only black student in the school, he soon becomes friends with a young girl called Katrin, (Lina Keller), who leads him up the wrong path, and has a boyfriend. He teaches her about rap music, and she takes him to some wild parties, behind his dad's back. Katrin then pushes him to rap at a talent competition, and his adult language gets Morris kicked out of the school. With his dad away, Morris goes to another wild party with Katrin and a few of her friends, and after an alteration with her boyfriend, he becomes stranded in the middle of nowhere, so he calls his tutor for help, who calls his dad against his wishes. Its quite a simple tale but it's one that every teenager can relate to. The acting is pretty average from the whole cast but the relationship between Curtis and Morris is quite sweet, even though Morris finds it hard to be honest, because of his love for Katrin. Its not the type of movie that will become a worldwide hit but it's a good insight into how difficult it is, for different cultures to mix. Average! Round-Up: This movie was directed by Chad Hartigan, 35, who also brought you All The Stage Is A World, Date and This Is Martin Bonner. I personally haven't heard of them films before, so this is the first movie that I have seen from this director. He certainly got the most out of Markees, in his first feature film, and he showed a different side to Craig Robinson, who is known for his comedic roles but the film is pretty small in scale and it didn't get wide distribution. Its a shame that this movie will go under the radar because I have seen worse, in this genre. Budget: N/A Worldwide Gross: $100,000 (Terrible) I recommend this movie to people who are into their comedy/romance/dramas, starring Craig Robinson, Markees Christmas, Carla Juri, Patrick Guldenberg and Lina Keller. 5/10

You might remember Chris Hartigan from his second feature a few years ago, This is Martin Bonner, an offbeat indie about a volunteer counselor for a Christian-based group who has a mentoring program to rehabilitate convicts. And now Hartigan has a new offbeat film on the unusual topic of an African-American father and teenage son, living in Heidelberg, Germany. Kudos to Hartigan for coming up a setting that we rarely get to see— i.e., African-Americans interacting with foreigners. The protagonist is Morris Gentry, the teenage son of Curtis Gentry, a coach employed by a German soccer team. Most critics agree that the talented comedian, Craig Robinson, steals the show as Morris' father, who tries to be a good parent to his rebellious son, played by Markees Christmas. Curtis' life is made much more difficult by the lack of presence of his wife, who passed away before father and son find themselves on foreign soil. Curtis is asked to perform a balancing act with Morris, unsure as to how much discipline he should dole out. He is overprotective precisely because of both of their vulnerable positions as African-Americans—veritable strangers in a strange land. The main point is that this is a father who cares about his son and Robinson does a great job conveying his commitment and sensitivity. While Morris is the victim of racial stereotyping by a coterie of obnoxious German teens who hang out at a local cultural center (they disparagingly refer to Morris as "Kobe Bryant" before they discover he's not a basketball player), Morris wins few points also with his surly disposition. The coming of age plot feels familiar after Morris falls for a slightly older German girl, Karin, another rebellious teenager who also has stereotyped impressions of black people—she dubs Morris a "gangsta-rapper" and eventually dumps him for a German boy who rides a motorcycle. Most of the German kids here don't come off well at all and only Morris' tutor, Inka, provides a positive role model for the beleaguered teenager. While I appreciated Hartigan's positive focus on the father- son bonding, Markees Chirstmas is saddled with a character that lacks the requisite charm. In the end, Hartigan's plot of a teenager's lesson learned isn't enough to compensate for all of Craig Robinson's good work as the supportive parent.