THE rights of innocent blacks get a trampling courtesy of vicious redneck white cops in the plodding drama “American Violet.”
The Texas-set movie, based on the true story of an ACLU-backed waitress (Nicole Bahari) wrongly charged with drug dealing in 2000, has the worthy intent of calling out racial wrongs. But its blaring earnestness and thin characters (all of whom practically wear badges identifying them as good or evil) fail to add nuance to a story that keeps making the same point in virtually every predictable scene. Tim Blake Nelson plays an ACLU lawyer, while “Caddyshack” star Michael O’Keefe plays the racist DA.
Running time: 100 minutes. Rated PG-13 (adult situations, violence, profanity, drug references). At the Lincoln Plaza, the Empire, the Magic Johnson, the Angelika.