I Like It Like That (film)

I Like It Like That is a 1994 American comedy-drama film about the trials and tribulations of a young Puerto Rican man and a half Jamaican Puerto Rican American woman living in a poverty-stricken New York City neighborhood in the South Bronx. The film stars Lauren Velez, Jon Seda, Lisa Vidal, Griffin Dunne, Jesse Borrego and Rita Moreno, and was written and directed by Darnell Martin who, in her filmmaking debut, became the first African-American female filmmaker to take helm of a film produced by a major film studio.

I Like It Like That
Theatrical release poster
Directed byDarnell Martin
Produced byAnn Carli
Victor De Jesus
Wendy Finerman
Lane Janger
Stephen Lloyd
Diana Phillips
Tracy Leigh Vilar
Written byDarnell Martin
StarringLauren Velez
Jon Seda
Griffin Dunne
Jesse Borrego
Rita Moreno
Lisa Vidal
Music bySergio George
CinematographyAlexander Gruszynski
Edited byPeter C. Frank
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release date
  • October 14, 1994 (1994-10-14)
Running time
104 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$1,760,527

The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival.[1]

Plot

Lisette Linares (Lauren Velez) is a young mother of three children, married to Chino (Jon Seda), a bicycle messenger. Although he is always reliable as the breadwinner of the family, Chino is having an affair with neighbor Magdalena (Lisa Vidal). One summer evening, as a blackout sweeps the neighborhood, Chino gets arrested for looting.

Faced now with the reality of keeping her family together while the main breadwinner is in jail, Lisette, with the encouragement of her transgender sister Alexis (Jesse Borrego), decides to give her dream of becoming a print model a chance. As she happens to be in the right place at the right time, Lisette lands a job as the personal assistant to a major record label producer (Griffin Dunne), who is trying to sign a major Latin music group (played by the real life group the Barrio Boyzz). Chino is then released from prison by Magdalena and her father, who reveals that she has a son named Richie, whom she claims was fathered by Chino. This causes Lisette to hit rock bottom and move in with Alexis. At her new job, while having sex with her boss, he answers a number of phone calls, which frustrates Lisette. The next day, Chino tries to go back to his job, but is fired due to his criminal record. Lisette then confronts Chino to prove that she had sex with another man to get even with him.

While Chino is taking the kids out for ice cream, his extremely rebellious son, Li'l Chino, asks if he could buy ice cream, but Chino tells him that he needs to work in order to buy things. His son then shows him money so Chino allows him to buy the ice cream, but when his younger daughter notices that he is wearing new sneakers and pants, Chino realizes that his son has become a drug dealer. Chino furiously lashes out at his son, pushing him towards a mural with a picture of his uncle (Chino's brother) on it, who was a police officer killed by a drug dealer. He whips his son in front of the whole block while his son's friends laugh at him. Alexis notices the commotion and tries to stop him.

Alexis then points out that his son is just a little boy and pulls him away, but Li'l Chino runs away. The kids are still laughing and continue to insult Lil' Chino as weak. Chino, infuriated, then beats a kid from the crowd and whips him, the and the drug dealer attempts to draw a gun but Chino manages to disarm him while fellow neighbors help Chino whip the boy. Li'l Chino is then found sitting in front of Alexis' apartment door. He tells Lisette that he wants to stay with her but she rejects him, believing that he will still be disrespectful towards her. Chino then finds Li'l Chino and takes him home. Back at the apartment, Chino and his friend put Richie to bed, and the friend reveals to Chino that he is the actual father of Richie, which infuriates Chino, as he been played by Magdalena the whole time. Alexis and Lisette have a discussion about the kids, as Alexis points out to Lisette that she is just like their own estranged mother. She denies this and Alexis changes and leaves to visit their mother.

When Alexis arrives over there, her mother opens the door, she reacts disgusted by Alexis' appearance. Alexis tries her hardest to make amends with her mother but when her father comes out of his room to check on the noise, he reacts with an aggressive look on his face. Back at Alexis' apartment, Lisette hears the door open and notices that Alexis came back. When Lisette comes to check on Alexis she notices her face is injured and asks what happened, but Alexis tells her that she was right about their mother, that she has not accepted Alexis for being transgender.

The next day at work, Lisette's boss wants to have sex again, but she tries to reject him. He stops when Lisette tells him he's “not a sexual person”, and the two begin to argue, which results in her nearly quitting. They resolve to continue their working relationship. Lisette arrives back at the apartment. She tries to talk to her children and asks for their forgiveness, mostly from Li'l Chino, which he does finally give. Chino arrives later, back from his new job as a security officer. Both discuss the many flaws in their marriage, and Chino finally tells Lisette the truth about Magdalena's baby. The scene ends with Lisette pointing out to Chino that he never thinks about the “other person”, which he then replies, “Good night, other person”, despite that it is morning already. Lisette lays on the sofa with a smile on her face.

Cast

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 82% based on 11 reviews.[2]

Roger Ebert gave the film 3 out of 4 stars and said of the film "I Like It Like That looks more unconventional than it is, but Martin puts a spin on the material with lots of human color and high energy."[3]

Year-end lists

References
  1. "Festival de Cannes: I Like It Like That". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved August 30, 2009.
  2. I Like It Like That at Rotten Tomatoes
  3. Ebert, Roger (October 14, 1994). "I Like It Like That". Chicago Sun-Times. RogerEbert.com. Retrieved April 1, 2020.
  4. Strauss, Bob (December 30, 1994). "At the Movies: Quantity Over Quality". Los Angeles Daily News (Valley ed.). p. L6.
  5. Persall, Steve (December 30, 1994). ""Fiction': The art of filmmaking". St. Petersburg Times (City ed.). p. 8.
  6. Maslin, Janet (December 27, 1994). "CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK; The Good, Bad and In-Between In a Year of Surprises on Film". The New York Times. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
  7. P. Means, Sean (January 1, 1995). "'Pulp and Circumstance' After the Rise of Quentin Tarantino, Hollywood Would Never Be the Same". The Salt Lake Tribune (Final ed.). p. E1.
  8. Mills, Michael (December 30, 1994). "It's a Fact: 'Pulp Fiction' Year's Best". The Palm Beach Post (Final ed.). p. 7.
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