Don't listen to the negative reviews

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

At the core of this film is a good plot and gimmick. Cuba Gooding wasn't bad in it, but the writing, directing, and some of the lesser actors were RIDICULOUSLY bad. I hope some day a different director remakes this film with the help of a writer who can write the missing scenes and build the suspense to what this should be - a nail biting court room drama. It is imperative that the audience not know whodunnit until the last scene. However, this film gives everything away half way through the film! The whole story should have been told through flashbacks during the courtroom trial. A major plot point is never explained properly and once the makeup and masks were discovered the movie was over - there was no thrill left in this thriller.

There seems to be a lot of negativity in the comments for this film. I thought it was pretty decent. Yes, voice-over narration is often a crutch, but it did not annoy me here. Cuba Gooding played it well even though his character was a little bit too good at evading the police. Tom Berenger was also just fine as a New Orleans police detective. Marianne Jean-Baptiste played all of the right notes as well. I guess I don't spend much time while watching movies trying to guess what is coming, or foretelling the ending. It seems that many people do. To each his own, I suppose. Nice scenery in both New Orleans and Key West. This never seems to have made it into theaters, but it is a nice diversion.

Sometimes a film is so well written, that even though you know what's coming, you're still on the edge of your seat. A Murder of Crows is an independent film with some big time star power, that makes a terrific story that much better. The film focuses on Lawson Russell, (Cuba Gooding Jr.) a successful New Orleans defense attorney, who suddenly finds his conscience. A series of events leads to his disbarment, so he begins life a new in Key West. Once there, he meets a lonely old man looking for a friend. The old man insists that Russell read his crowning achievement, a novel. Russell is more than impressed with the book and goes to tell his friend about it when he finds that the old man has died. Russell then suddenly loses his conscience again and decides to pass the book off as his own. Russell's life seems to be back on track until the FBI shows up and arrests him. As it turns out, the murders depicted in the book weren't fiction and Lawson Russell is the prime suspect. From there the film turns into a mystery, who was this old man? Why did he set Lawson up? Who is the real killer? As I said the story is ingenious and very well written, unfortunately, I watch a lot of movies and actually figured the whole thing out, twenty minutes into the film. It wasn't that the film was predictable, most of the other reviews I've read seem to suggest that most people were shocked by the ending. I have no idea why I figured out what was going on so quickly, but this film is so good, that even knowing what was going to happen, I still loved it. Cuba Gooding Jr. was just off the charts good in this movie, he brings such energy and charisma to this role, that it easy rivals his Academy Award winning performance in Jerry McGuire. The rest of the cast is terrific as well, but all the other parts were seemingly bit parts that centered around Lawson Russell. This movie was the perfect fit for Cuba Gooding Jr. and was one of the best written films I've seen all year. A Murder of Crows proves that you don't need a big budget, with huge special effects, in order to make an extremely entertaining film. Gems like this one are rare, but ultimately are the whole reason I watch Independent films.

Really like this film, it's criminally overlooked as far as I'm concerned. Cuba Gooding plays a lawyer who gets disbarred shortly after he lets his conscience get the better of him and he moves to Key West Florida, hoping to start a writing career. Once there, he meets and old man who happens to have written a damn fine novel. Ahhh, I don't want to reveal more, but from that point on things get very interesting.This thriller has a genuinely original plot and is very well written. The plot twist isn't easily spotted and will definitely have viewers guessing for a long time. It's fast paced and well directed by Rowdy Herrington, who's really a director to look for (made another little known James Spader flick that's very good as well).I've always like Cuba Gooding and he does a good job in the lead, proving he can well handle dramatic parts as well (if not better) than comedic ones. Tom Berenger does well, as always, in a relatively small part as a tough detective.It's a rare thing these days that a film, particularly a thriller, comes up with a really fresh and original idea and executes it well. A Murder of Crows is a suspenseful and thoroughly entertaining thriller that deserves to be better known.