Contentious and claustrophobic drama set on a dark and stormy night in a Miami police station where an aggrieved black woman butts heads with an insouciant white police officer as she tries in vain to discover the whereabouts of her son, a biracial teen who's abruptly vanished without a trace. Things only flare up when her estranged husband, a true-blue white federal officer, arrives on the scene. The subject matter alone should make this a grabber, but teary-eyed Washington is allowed to overplay it in this elongated, heavy-handed with a capital H vignette that tries oh so excruciatingly hard to pummel the viewer over the head with its message about stereotyping, racial inequality, and police impropriety. Adapted from a Broadway play it likely works better on a stage than on a screen, though the ending still delivers a punch to the gut; if only it weren't so inordinately preachy during the build up to it. **
Review of American Son
