Matty shines a light on one of ’90s B-cinema’s most endearing — yet maddeningly forgotten — Quentin Tarantino take-offs.

Among the last lot of titles released by LIVE Entertainment before their rebranding to Artisan (and, in turn, their subsequent take over by Lionsgate), CAUGHT UP opened on seven-hundred and thirteen North American cinema screens in February 1998 and bagged favourable reviews from industry bible Variety and the mighty Roger Ebert. When the film hit U.S. video four months later, it shifted enough units to warrant the production of a special edition DVD during the format’s early ‘00s boom period; meanwhile, here in the U.K., Caught Up played in steady rotation on satellite TV for a couple of years and quietly landed on disc — bypassing tape, no less — in 2003. A shame, then, that this entertaining caper has vanished into the ether. Calling Caught Up a sleeper would be a stretch but it’s a compelling entry in the Tarantino stakes, especially as it’s one of the few Pulp Fiction (1994) ambulance chasers with a genuine African-American twist (no, whiter-than-white QT’s blaxploitation homaging Jackie Brown (1997) doesn’t count, and neither do the vast majority of poverty row urban pictures produced by the likes of Albert Pyun and Tanya York). 

That said, anyone planning to extrapolate some kind of commentary about the treatment of black ex-cons will be left clutching at straws. The megaphone-wielding debut of Darin Scott, co-author of the socially charged horror anthology Tales From the Hood (1994) and producer of the excellent Menace II Society (1993), Caught Up finds the writer/director less concerned with probing big, race-driven issues than he is with presenting a stylish and often very funny world of crime, police corruption and femme fatales that just so happens to feature a predominantly black cast. It’s jocular, heavily stylised neo-noir, plain and simple. Scott’s convoluted story — originally conceived under the name ‘The Real’ — veers close to tying itself in a knot, but his clever staging; giddy visual gimmickry; and kooky providential streak is wickedly enjoyable if you’re prepared to meet the future Deep Blue Sea 2 (2018) helmer halfway.

Bokeem Woodbine makes for a decent lead and conveys the necessary range as an amiable former jailbird who can’t seem to catch a break. However, the pleasures of Caught Up are nestled within its dynamic supporting ensemble. One False Move’s (1991) Cynda Williams is fabulous as Woodbine’s New Age love interest, and Tony Todd, Jeffrey Combs, and Basil Wallace (who essentially reprises his Marked For Death (1990)/Screwface shtick) are a hoot in their extended, plot denting cameos. Rappers Snoop Dogg and LL Cool J also appear, though only the former contributed to the film’s chart topping R&B/Hip-Hop soundtrack.

USA ● 1998 ● Thriller, Comedy ● 94mins

Bokeem Woodbine, Cynda Williams, Clifton Powell, Basil Wallace ● Wri./Dir. Darin Scott