"Fresh" (Nelson), the title character and a black kid in his early teens, is a runner for low level drug distributors in the mean streets of NYC with a plan to get out of the ghetto. He plays speed chess with his estranged father and stashes money in a tin can but his plan goes well beyond just saving for a bus ticket. "Fresh" offers good production value, par performances, somewhat stereotypical characters, and lots of grit. However, what sets this critically lauded flick apart from its peers is a human drama with a clever storyline which transcend the usual stuck-in-the-ghetto flicks full of sensational crime stuff. An engaging watch for those into drug/ghetto/crime flicks. (B)

I have very little criticism for the movie Fresh. There just isn't really anything there TO criticize. This movie is one of the few that is close to cinematic perfection...yes, it's THAT good.

Young Michael (or Fresh) witnesses the horrors of street life every day. His mother is gone, his father is a virtual bum, he loses his friends to violence, his sister is a prostitute, and he is a runner for the drug lords of his neighborhood. Not surprisingly, Fresh isn't content with his lifestyle and is determined to make life better not only for him, but for his sister as well.

The movie sounds like a standard cliche film, but this is far from the truth. Fresh is a breath of fresh air in the realm of movie redundancy and predictability. There is no overacting, use of gratuitous violence or sex, or unbelievable plots to spoil this little gem. Young Sean Nelson is as gifted as any veteran actor and carries this movie on his small shoulders. Yes, he is simply *that* good. Fortunately, he is supported by a fabulous cast in Samuel Jackson as his father, N'Bushe Wright as his prostitue sister, and Giancarlo Esposito as the local drug dealer.

There are no big budget shootouts, no computer enhanced scenes, or ridiculously cliche special effects. No, Fresh relies on the very basics of moviemaking: acting, plot, setting, and direction. And it succeeds where so many others have failed.

All of this is woven into an intelligent and entertaining movie that is as close to perfection as Pulp Fiction. Undoubtedly, it is that good.

Fresh earns a 10 out of 10 stars rating and I highly recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys seeing what movies SHOULD be.

This movie didn't have to rely on BIG NAMES to make this movie great. It didn't have to rely on lots of on screen killing to be great. This movie was great because the dialog between the characters as well as the screen play were excellent all by themselves. The people who did play the parts DID justice to the characters they played. As the movie started and in the first 15 minutes, all I could think was this kid (Sean Nelson) was a punk trying to make a buck. I didn't realize, like most, until the end of the film what this kid was actaully doing, which was playing everyone like they were live chess pieces. He got what he wanted all by playing one against the other. This movie proved that a film does not have to be high budget or big names to be great. If that were the case, The Last Action Hero or Reindeer Games should win an OSCARS for Best Movie.