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Rob Peace

Rob Peace

  • Status: Released
  • 02-08-2024
  • Runtime: 120 min
  • Score: 6.764
  • Vote count: 72

An underprivileged, gifted young black man from Newark reaches Yale University, only for shadows and injustices from his past to threaten his future.

Jay Will

Robert DeShaun Peace

Mary J. Blige

Jackie Peace

Chiwetel Ejiofor

Robert E. 'Skeet' Douglas

Camila Cabello

Naya

Michael Kelly

Edwin Leahy

Mare Winningham

Professor Durham

Gbenga Akinnagbe

Carl

Juan Castano

Oswaldo Gutierrez

Lori Hammel

Jury Foreperson

Benjamin Papac

Jeff Hobbs

Ian Duff

Sherman

Max MacKenzie

John Anderson

Caleb Eberhardt

Curtis

Curt Morlaye

Tavarus

Decater James

Gunman

Reggie Alvin Green

Horace Peace

Thom Niemann

Water Polo Player #2

Chance K. Smith

Rob Peace 13

Darrell L. Whipple

Moore (uncredited)

Joshua Perez

Weed Shack Crew (uncredited)

Leon 'Lee' Fuller

Old G / Neighbor (uncredited)

Sam Saeger Daniel

Eric (uncredited)

Kevin D. Benton

Construction Worker (boarding up the corner store) (uncredited)

Rony Clanton

Old Friend

Jaden Jajuan Fields

Joshua Smith

Nico Dangla

Yale White Student

Stephen Michael Lee

Funeral Preacher

Flavia de Morais Seixas

Naya's Mom

Paul Juhn

Dr. Christopher Yang

Tyler Bourke

Lucas Adams

Daniel Kaj Schlosser

Aaron Foster

Jolly Swag

Noah Andrews

Ken Land

State Attorney

Rosemary Howard

Homeowner

Gabby Beans

Darlene

Tavon Olds-Sample

Kamar

Hugh Entrekin

Water Polo Player #1

Abdul-Latif Ismail

Tavarus Heston 13

Noah Epps

Curtis Gamble 13

Alicia Pilgrim

Georgianna Broadway

Jordan Boatman

Estella Moore

Andrew Dolan

Hon. Edwin H. Stern

Fred Inkley

Hon. Alvin Weiss

Art McFarland

Irving Gaskins

Rosalyn Coleman

Jacinta Johnson

Robert Farrior

Tom Rivers

Antu Yacob

Sheila Tucker

Robert Ray Manning Jr.

Michael Tucker

Jelani Dacres

Rob Peace 7 / 10

Marjorie Johnson

Frances Peace

CinemaSerf

Jay Will turns in an engaging enough effort here but I found the whole story just a bit lacking in substance. It's based on a true story, adapted by director Chiwetel Ejiofor who plays the father of the eponymous young lad. He's separated from his mother (Mary J. Blige) but seems to be on decent terms with them as he comes for a routine visit in his dilapidated old car. Quickly, a tragedy strikes and dad "Skeet" finds himself sent to prison for a double murder. It falls to son Rob to try to find a way to prove his innocence. Skip on a few years and we find this young man, highly adept at mathematics, proving his genius as he manages to get into the Ivy League thanks to some sponsorship from his prep school but again, he is constantly striving to find a way to extricate his dad from jail. It's his skills at chemistry that now serve a different purpose as he and a few colleagues develop a brand new revenue stream that makes him very popular amongst the student body (and mind) whilst raising the cash to fund his dad's appeal. Meantime, with their community gradually falling to wrack and ruin, he also hits on the idea of using some of his cash to kick-start refurbishment works on over 170 homes that have been abandoned or foreclosed upon to revitalise his community - but when the sub-prime crash hits the world it leaves him desperately exposed in more ways than one. When we get to the end of this film, it does make you look back and think a little about how society can contrive to thwart people with even the slightest degree of social ambition - even when is appears to be eminently commercially viable, but the problem here is that there's just way too much missing from the narrative. We skip ahead when we ought to be developing his character his situation. There is virtually nothing from the trial that convicted his father, for example. Peace is clearly a decent man of idealism, reduced to using the tools at his disposal to funds things way more permanent than a flashy car or some bling for his girl (Camilla Cabello) but again the storytelling leaves us to make too many assumptions about who did what back when and about his own, ostensibly victimless, crimes that risk compromising his long sought goals. Interestingly, this isn't a film that takes much of a racial stance. His colour seems not to have been especially relevant as his education progressed but in the end it was maybe just a short story that's undercooked here and skirts over too many of the issues it needed to fulfil it's promise. It's still worth a watch, but the telly will suit it fine.