There is a good message somewhere in the mess

Of course because this is a Spike Lee joint about violence in an inner city it will immediately be compared to "Do the Right Thing" and I would agree.
The biggest difference to me is that while DTRT did have humorous scenes, it always took the core issue, racially inspired violence, seriously.

This movie on the other hand went straight from a young child being shot down in the street to singing and dancing around because the men and women were horny. I found this jarring and insulting to a point.

I actually thought the parts when the film took the subject matter seriously worked really well even to the dramatic final twist at the end. Even with Spike lee's other film "School Daze" had singing and dancing the underlining message, even in the songs, commented on the serious matter at hand.

The other point that has been made by many is Spike Lee knows New York and in particular, Brooklyn, with all it's nuisances and quirks. By this film spike Lee shows he does NOT know the first thing about Chicago where this film is based.

I so wanted to like this film but in the end quite a let down from a great director.