Disappearing Acts (2000)

I thought this movie was very well written and plotted out. Here you have two characters that are dealing with real issues. Here we have Zora trying to get her music career off the ground. Working as a music teacher and trying to fulfill her dream. The object of her desire Franklin is a high school drop out doing construction work. Franklin is married and has two teenage sons an does not tell Zora about it until in the middle of the relationship. Once their love affair begins to come together things begin to happen that makes them split up and have to achieve their goals on their own and come back together an work on their relationship. This is the type of the movie you watch when your home alone or with the person your in love with. A very movie an i would recommend people to either rent it or buy it for their movie collection.

The book is way better and much more interesting. Of course most movies that are based on books are nearly as good as the book. The problem with Disappearing Acts is that it moved too fast. And there is hardly any chemistry between Sanaa Lathan and Wesley Snipes. Sanaa is great as Zora. But Wesley is hardly believable as Franklin. There were a gazillion other black actors out there that would've portrayed the character more true to life than Wesley Snipes. His acting in this movie was fake and if you go back and read the book and then watch this movie, you will see that he is not Franklin at all. Disappearing Acts is entertaining enough to watch, but the book is way better.

I was a bit skeptical when seeing the previews for this movie, but it was well worth the two hours it took to watch it! Instead of the cheesy, one-sided, pro-independent-Black-woman, anti-Black-male film that I thought it was, "Disappearing Acts" was a refreshing, well-made movie that both men and women (and not necessarily just African-American) can feel. This is because the movie 1) was actually believable, 2) related to a lot of true events in this day and age that aren't really exposed much without being sensationalized, and 3) had two strong leads in Sanaa Lathan (Zora) and Wesley Snipes (Franklin)...I think that the supporting cast could have been a bit more utilized (more so with Zora and Franklin's respective families and parents), but that is overshadowed by a powerful, emotion-stirring performance by Sanaa and Wesley. I would definitely recommend this film to anyone looking for a true-to-life, devoid-of-unneeded-drama-elements movie that you can really feel.If this movie is half as good as the book (which everyone is telling me it is), then I shall be off to Waldenbooks for a sneak peek.

"Disappearing Acts" is a well told story about the bumpy road to love and understanding trod by a somewhat mismatched NYC couple with Snipes as a blue-collar laborer and Lathan as a music teacher. The film does everything right but does not show us anything we haven't seen many times before. In the final analysis one can only nod and yawn.