Injured Brenda Martin (Julianne Moore) stumbles into a New Jersey hospital and reports that she's been carjacked by a black man from the nearby public housing estate, in this mystery thriller from director Joe Roth. Cop Lorenzo Council (Samuel L Jackson) is assigned to coax as many details as possible out of the disturbed, erratic Brenda and eventually learns that her young son was asleep in the back seat of the stolen vehicle. He also twigs that she's being a bit economical with the truth. Meanwhile, racial tensions threaten to implode on the estate and Council must enlist the help of a bereaved mother (Edie Falco) whose volunteer organisation searches for missing children. Adapted by Richard Price from his own novel, the story shares the same blue-collar setting as his earlier Clockers, yet despite its topicality this movie adaptation disintegrates into an ungainly mess. Even usually reliable lead actors like Jackson and Moore give uncharacteristically sub-par performances here, although Sopranos star Falco does her best with an underwritten role.

A black police detective must solve a strange case of a kidnapped boy and deal with a big racial protest.