Rating: 
Summary: A very well made movie
Review: "Liberty Heights" is a simple coming-of-age story told beautifully. I have seen this story told many times in a variety of ways; at times I find it mundane and uninteresting. In this case, the subtext -- 1950's Baltimore community and the three world represented (Jewish, WASP and African American) made the story more engaging.Frankly I could watch this film over and over again and not get tired of it. I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: A very well made movie
Review: "Liberty Heights" is a simple coming-of-age story told beautifully. I have seen this story told many times in a variety of ways; at times I find it mundane and uninteresting. In this case, the subtext -- 1950's Baltimore community and the three world represented (Jewish, WASP and African American) made the story more engaging. Frankly I could watch this film over and over again and not get tired of it. I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Movie's Box Office Failure May Be A Good Sign
Review: "Liberty Heights" revolves around a Jewish middle class Baltimore family of the mid 1950's. The father (Joe Mantega) is a decent and honorable man who just happens to earn a living as a boss of an illegal gambling organization. He is not perceived as a criminal to his immediate community, but merely as a family bread winner doing the best he can. To hide his earnings from the IRS, the father also runs a unprofitable burlesque house. The acts are so tame by today's standards that they seem hysterically funny instead of lascivious. Many like myself born into a minority Catholic background will readily commiserate with the young son (Ben Foster) who is astonished to learn that few people in the world are Jewish. There is a warm and tender scene where the child unintentionally insults his gentile lady host for serving him white bread, luncheon meat, and milk. The boy is appalled by all the revolting "white stuff" on the table. The innocent child looks at the well meaning woman as some sort of weird human being. Later we observe him as a teenager tackling the mysteries of adolescent sexuality and interracial relations. He is forced to learn that racial prejudice is not limited to the outright cruel and uncivilized. The older brother (Adrien Brody) is already thrust into an adult world where being Jewish is an serious obstacle to full economic and social participation. His buddy even goes so far as to hide his Jewish heritage from a WASP female in order not to repel her. This incident is very uncomfortable to watch. The whole family undergoes a crisis when the father's betting operation has to make good on a bet that it doesn't have the money to cover. These characters are engaging and the audience cares about what happens to them. We may even get to love them. This latest Barry Levinson quasi-bographical release failed at the box office. It was a well done film deserving of respect but perhaps made twenty years too late. Do I recommend this movie? The answer is yes. Levinson is offering us sufficient new material and themes to make it worth our while. Nonetheless, I suspect that the great film maker perhaps should think twice before returning again to his roots for creative inspiration. Levinson may have gone to this particular well one too many times. The subject matter is starting to exhaust even his most loyal admirers. Most of us have already seen the beautiful and thought provoking "Diner" and "Avalon." I dare say that "Liberty Heights" would have been financially successful only if Jews were still victims of virulent discrimination. Younger Jews fortunately ( or at least I hope this is the case!) can no longer identify with an era of almost fifty years ago when signs were posted on Baltimore area swimming polls denying admission to "Jews, Dogs, or Coloreds." Some anti-Semitism persists today in America, but it is rarely blatant. Most hostility usually results from the low self esteem of individuals possessing marginal power and influence. Ignoring history increases the chance of evil repeating itself. The overindulgence of focussing on past troubles, though, may deter us from confronting the challenges of the here and now.
Rating:
Summary: I Loved Liberty Heights for Two Reasons
Review: 1) My daughter was a featured extra who had a close up in the film's opening scene. As the story opens in a Jewish neighborhood in Baltimore in 1954 or so the narrator tells the audience how he thought everyone in the world was Jewish. The camera pans to his elementary school classrom while the teacher calls the roll, Bernstein, Cohan, Cohen, etc. He says he even thought Ling (my daughter) was Jewish as the camera zooms in on her. Okay that explains why I liked the film and bought the DVD. Why should you?
2). It is a nice, sweet movie that is suitable for family viewing. (Caveat: there is one rather muted scene in which the younger son, played well by Ben Foster, appeared to get a bit over excited by his love interest. You have to be a bit older to understand what happened though). Although it does not leave as lasting an impact as Diner or Avalon on the viewer it is well worth viewing in DVD.
It has an excellent ensemble cast led by Joe Mantegna plays the father and Bebe Neuwirth the prototypical gulit inducing mother. Ben Foster plays the younger brother and Adrien Brody (pre-Oscar winner days) plays the older brother. The films consists of a series of stories each of which involves the intrusion of the brave new world of integration into a cohesive ethnic enclave. There are some extremely funny scenes and dialogue. Ben Foster and his friends walk away from a public pool after seeing a sign stating: "No Jews, Coloreds, or Dogs." Rather than anger they engage in an extended discussion as to why the three groups were set out in that particular order. It was both funny and moving.
Ben falls for a young classmate, the girl who integrated the school. Their relationship (sweet and puppyish) is met by consternation by both sets of parents. Adrien Brody, the older brother, falls for an anglo-saxon blonde and runs into much resistance as he works his way into her 'crowd'. Mantegna's burlesque club and numbers running set him apart from the more rigid confines of his crowd. Levinson approaches these stories with a light hand and humorous touch. He does not preach. He simply tells their stories.
As noted, this movie does not have the same impact as Diner or Avalon and this may explain, in part, its rapid disappearance from movie theaters. The DVD, which contains a number of added items (trailers, crew interviews, etc.), is a nice opportunity to spend a very pleasnt two hours.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining
Review: Although the film, for me, took a while for itself to get me interested it was worth the short wait 'cause after it did I felt as though I was in the 50s. Liberty Hights is about two families that have to adapt to chages that come about in the 50s. Now, this subject about negros and jews has happened before in film but not in this entertaing way. Every actor was excellent and I was impressed, seeing that some of the actors had their film debut. Overall Liberty Hights is a reccomended.
Rating:
Summary: EVIDENT TENSION
Review: An excellent film which captures perfectly the time frame and even more importantly the sense of tension that was prevalent in the location and time in which the film is set. Throughout the film you feel like you are on pins and needles just waiting for something bad to happen even though the film is overall a "feel good" kind of film. Nothing REALLY bad happens, but you always feel like it might with all the religious and racial tension that runs rampantly through the society of Baltimore in the immediate post-war (WWII) era. Apart from conveying the societal norms and conventions the film centres on a Jewish family which begins with the narrator telling the viewer that prior to going to school he thought the whole world was Jewish because he never knew anything different. This is an interesting observation. This is pretty much the way all people see their early experiences unless they are subjected to a large amount of diversity, and most of us in middle class America are not. The sense of humour and tradition that runs through the film is subtle and clever. The characters are imbued with life, and the actors bring the script to life. Bebe Neuwirth is always a pleasure, and Joe Mantegna is great. The actors who played the teenage children of Neuwirth and Mantegna are also excellent.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining and humorous
Review: Barry Levinson has returned yet again to Baltimore for his latest and has turned out an entertaining, if a little flawed, winner. It is the story of a Jewish family in the fifties, narrated by the youngest son, looking back on his senior year in high school from what I presume to be the present. The two sons and their father confront other socio-economic sets with amusing results. The older son falls for an unbelievabley waspy, wealthy young woman. The younger son falls for a young black woman. The movie, while funny, charming and well acted lacks cohesion and is a bit too episodic. It's still a lot of fun to watch and viewers will not be disappointed. It's just not a masterpiece the way Diner was (but movies of that caliber a few and far between). If you have enjoyed Levinson's earlier Baltimore movies (Avalon, Tin Men, Diner), you will no doubt enjoy this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Charming but scattered
Review: Barry Levinson writes and directs a story about growing up Jewish in Baltimore, MD in the 1950's, a topic he knows a lot about being a native of that city born in 1942. As a period piece, this is outstanding. As a comedy/drama, it has its moments but is too scattered to have much impact. The story follows the lives of Nate Kurtzman (Joe Mantegna), and his two sons, Van (Adrian Brody) and Ben (Ben Foster) over the period of one year. Nate's subplot shows his life as a small-time racketeer. Van develops a crush on a wealthy gentile girl at a party, and spends much of the film pining after her. When he finally gets to know her better he finds that she is much different than he had imagined. Ben develops a crush on a black girl in his class and embarks on a friendship with her that flies in the face of the taboos of the times. The entire film revolved around a single theme, i.e. how hard it was to grow up Jewish in the 1950's. Much of the material was amusing, some disturbing and some charming, but Levinson was so intent on relieving (or reliving) his angst that he kept wandering from the main storylines. If he had focused more on the relationship between Ben and Sylvia (Rebekah Johnson), it would have been a much stronger film. As a period piece on the '50's, this is outstanding. The costumes and props were perfect and the entire film had a genuine 50's feeling to it. Levinson captured not only the images, but also the attitudes. The ensemble cast was very solid. Joe Montegna is always terrific, especially when he is playing a crook. He is extremely believable in those roles and though he has tried to break out of the type, he keeps coming back because he does it so well. Ben Foster gave a wonderful performance played with a great deal of wit and sensitivity. He and Rebekah Johnson had excellent chemistry and made the forbidden relationship enchanting. This film had potential, but Levinson' mission to expose injustice kept distracting him from the storyline and dissipated its overall effect. I rated it 6/10. Add a point if you are Jewish and another if you are nostalgic about the 1950's. Not bad, but it could have been much better.
Rating:
Summary: Liberty Heights: highly Personal and pedestrian film
Review: Barry Levinson's "Baltimore Series" includes the Excellent DINER and TIN MEN but also the also-ran AVALON and LIBERTY HEIGHTS. The all have many things in common. First, they all take place in Baltimore. But, more importantly, they each examine life in a charming, personal way with great dialogue and offbeat situations. LIBERTY HEIGHTS aims very high tackling anti-semitism, racism, communism, segregation and Frank Sinatra. And all of that is done in light, quaint surroundings that display the innocence of the 50s. Even with some great performances, LIBERTY HEIGHTS can't help but feel derivitive. The youngest son travels a road already explored in Robert DeNiro's A BRONX TALE while the oldest brother seems ripped right from THE CIDER HOUSE RULES. All of this mixed with obvious connections to the earlier Baltimore films. So, Libert Heights is a nice film and a must for fans of LEVINSON's Baltimore films, but his pacing is starting to age. Enjoy..
Rating: 
Summary: Funny, strange, poignant, and an interest perspective.
Review: Barry Levinson's semi-autobiographical look at life in the mid '50's, from a Jewish perspective, is funny, interesting, and poignant, and fairly strange. It ironically stars Joe Montegna as a Jewish business man, with many troubles, Bebe Neuwirth, as his wife and some other interesting characters. One funny, but not funny, moment (if your Jewish) is when his son tries to go to a Halloween party dressed as Adolf Hitler, much to the horror of his mother and grandmother (which is understandable). An interesting side story is the relationship between one son and a highly attractive (black) girl. Prejudice runs several ways in this movie; a definite reflection of the times, but does not detract from it. [An aside-the only thing that marred the viewing of this disc was a slight bit of debris; which I cleared off and then the disc played fine-a bit of advice to all dvd users to check and clean edge to edge; never, ever, in a circular fashion.] Otherwise a fine film. Well acted, good story, which does a credit to Mr. Levinson. Recommended.
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