Waterproof

From Cloud Ten Pictures, which produced the sleeper hits The Omega Code and Left Behind, comes this 1999 independent faith-based drama of forgiveness and redemption. April Grace stars as Tyree, a troubled African-American single mother and Washington, D.C. taxi driver whose young son is running with gangs. When the boy accidentally shoots Eli, a shopkeeper (Burt Reynolds, giving one of his most thoughtful performances in years), during a robbery, the panicked woman packs the boy and the wounded Eli into her taxi and flees to her estranged family in her hometown of Waterproof, Louisiana. While Tyree struggles to come to terms with her past, Eli, whose wife recently passed away, and who lost his own son in the war, gradually opens up to the family and finds it in his heart to forgive. In his last role, Whitman Mayo (Grady on Sanford and Son) co-stars as the homily-spouting family patriarch. Annoying 7-Up pitchman Orlando Jones gives a revelatory performance as Tyree's slow-witted brother. Also in the cast as Tyree's embittered older brother is Anthony Lee, the actor who was tragically shot by Los Angeles police at a Halloween costume party in 2000. Certainly heavy-handed at times--but well meaning to beat the band--this is the kind of positive film with life and spirit-affirming messages that Joe Lieberman wishes Hollywood would make. Recommended. (K. Lee Benson)