Diamond Ruff (2015) User Reviews (8)

Good concept

[silsar · 5/10 · 27 July 2015]

Well, I did't physically appear in this film but my name is attached because of my musical input, you see, I contributed to writing the score or sound track and placed special effects when needed. I must applaud the author Joe Young for his determination and tenacity to stick with his conviction to finishing this work despite little financial help, which i made a sizable donation.

HOW SIGHT & SOUND CAME TOGETHER Here's what happen

Silver Starr Sargent of Maurice Starr Enterprises was asked to musically breathe life into Joe Young's Diamond Ruff Motion Picture Project in 2011, and with Sargent's musical associations, bring a marketing strategy to Young Studios and Diamond Ruff. Sargent said… "Well, Joe and I have been friends for a long time, ever since his son Kyle was a toddler; we have worked together on plays and shows and are very close" Preferring to work with people he likes and who like him, Sargent put together a list of family and friends deeply entrenched in the music and entertainment industry. First on the list was family member and colleague World famous Maurice Starr, who agreed to assist with anything Sargent needed; such as personal appearance, production, studio time and music distribution for SOC Records, (Sounds Of Connecticut) Sargent was already in production, writing and producing " Breeze Dollaz and Anubreed" (Rap/Hip Hop Group) comprised of his nephew's and grandkids. Also with (MSK) "My Sister's Keeper" from Youngstown, Ohio (Gospel Group) Managed by Duane Turnage for Nehemiah Records. During Sargent's productions, another nephew, Bobby Hill called and asked him to help obtain some promotion and visibility for his then new Gospel Artist "Neveah", from Atlanta, so Sargent obliged him by placing her first single in the movie. After producing with the help of yet another nephew, AJ Sargent a suitable score soundtrack demo complete with mood music and sound effects was presented to Joe Young, who was very pleased, and used it to bring his film to life

Win or lose it was an experience

Pathetically Poor

[zmail-77704 · 2/10 · 14 March 2015]

Within the first few minutes of watching this you'll completely see what I'm getting at when I describe the acting and direction of this movie as pathetically poor.

The possibly only redeeming feature is the lead actor who, because he's in his natural character, manages to lend a cheery countenance throughout.

But the rest of the actors, try though they might to follow the characters they've been given, are hampered by a direction that is wooden, badly cut (too many pauses between camera cutaways) and just flounders along in some misbegotten mess of a screenplay.

If it wasn't for the lead it wouldn't have even got two stars out of me. Avoid at all costs.

No diamond in the rough, just straight up coal

[Seth_Rogue_One · 2/10 · 26 January 2016]

This movie was lame.

The script is so bad it's hard to believe that it even got financed, it starts out as a wannabe heist movie or something with a guy trying to maintain his million dollar lifestyle by committing various crimes then it turns into trying to push an extremely random 'blacklivesmatter' message, it's so all over the place it's hard to make sense of it all.

And the editing is horrendous, flashbacks from Diamond Ruff's (yes that's his birth-name) childhood at the most random of times which feels like it was just put in here and there because the actual script was so incoherent they needed to tie the knots together somehow so they just threw in a flashback here and a flashback there as a transition between scenes.

And the first 15 minutes focuses a lot on introducing a bunch of different characters, that most of them after another 15 minutes aren't even in the movie anymore (!?).

Acting-wise, I mean with a (supposed) script like this it doesn't really matter if the acting is great cause it can't help in this case but just to be clear it's not great.

I actually usually like Fredro Starr, I think he's one of the better rappers turned actors but the role he's playing is so full of contradictions it's hard to take him seriously because of that (and the script of course).

But overall he's the best actor in the movie, which isn't saying a lot cause the rest of the cast ranges from not so good to plain awful.

Originally I gave this one a 3/10 but after reading what I just said I realise it's not even worth that.

Don't watch this please

[eternalloophole · 1/10 · 17 March 2017]

This movie was by far a tragic and not the kind Shakespeare would approve of. It has terrible camera work, unexplainably bad acting and looks like it was made by a 2 year old (Joe Young). If I was told by my parents that I was watching diamond ruff I think I would cry to be honest for it is not worth to even be spoken of as a movie. The only thing RUFF about this movie is it's performance if you can even call it that. I just wish the "Joe Young studios" finds another director for I had expected more from Joe. Joe if you're reading this I just want you to know that i'm deeply sorry for you having to read another painful review. I only wish for the best and that you create another movie so I can have more fun and make another bad review of that one too. XD

SEEK AND YE SHALL FIND

[nogodnomasters · 1/10 · 23 April 2019]

Diamond Ruff (Fredro Starr) grew up an orphan in the tough streets of Hartford. He has become a successful scam artist, performing Mission Impossible stuff. In spite of having tons of cash scamming people, he decides he must perform a poorly conceived armed bank robbery. During the robbery a cop (same one who shot his mom) kills the hostage in front of dozens of other cops and successfully frames Diamond who gets convicted and goes to jail for murder. While in jail we get some spiritual stuff. Diamond tries to clear himself of the murder charge because if he does he will be immediately released from prison because armed robbery is apparently a wrist slap in Connecticut.

None of the plot made any sense. The story seemed to center around bad white cops lying and framing poor innocent bank robbing, kidnapping black men with murder. Throw in a Bible verse or two and we get a really sad story of redemption.

I have no idea where these rave reviews come from. Bad plot, worse acting. Camera work and sound seemed professional enough for a low budget indie.

Guide: F-bomb. No sex or nudity.

Diamond Ruff is Rough, and no Diamond in the Rough *Spoiler Sport*

[warrenf_peace · 1/10 · 17 April 2015]

I actually acted in this disaster of a film, but looks like they took me out (thank god!). It was my first speaking role, and the best part of it was working with Missy Fiore, who was cute as a button. I had previously worked in film out at Paramount in Hollywood, as well as several years free lance - mostly in production (special effects & music), so I do know how real movies get made. This shoot was so low-budget, they just couldn't get the money where they needed it - specifically the direction. It was so bad, and perhaps my 1 star reflects more of my experience than the film itself, but trust me, if you watch this, you will hate yourself. To say it's a stinker is to give stinkers a bad name.

*spoilers in this paragraph* The book that the movie is based on - basically the author's fantasy life - and what he would like it to be - isn't bad (I actually liked it), but the movie goes off in too many directions and fails to keep to the story, which is certainly their prerogative, but it was a very bad decision. Instead of the protagonist, who's an African American playing a white con man ripping off the big bucks, I believe the writer/ producer, Joe Young, is using the movie as a con to generate money. That's why it took him 7 years to complete this. But regardless, this amateur effort - for all the skilled folks working on it - fails because it's a jumbled pile of rushed scenes, or too many long shots of uninteresting, hence, the pacing is atrocious.

Do yourself a favor and find a film that is a true diamond in the rough, like a foreign film, underground or independent picture; better yet, watch a real movie. Unless you acted in this too, and watched it to see how you did. BTW, they said they would pay me and give me SAG credit. Never happened. What goes around comes around, and this karma just completed the circle.

Great movie but the cover isn't legitimate

[kidstyle · 9/10 · 10 March 2015]

After watching the movie Diamond Ruff I was proud of the fact that it was a great home grown movie with a strong message that speaks to our generation but I just don't understand this DVD cover art. The characters on the DVD cover are not even in the movie and it taints all first impressions for viewers who have never seen this movie before. I just want to tell anybody that's thinking of purchasing this film that this cover art has no resemblance to the actual film in any way and that this film is actually worth your time. It's a shame to see a good film go bad because of false advertising. Hopefully you will look past this cover art and watch the film so you'll understand what I mean when I say that this film has a strong message that truly speaks to the viewer.

I enjoyed this, but...

[DirtyTracksuitBillinEpisode32 · 7/10 · 19 January 2021]

Fredro's acting is good... whenever he's on screen. However, when he's doing narration, he comes off as wooden, and you can really tell he's reading off a piece of paper. All-in-all, it's not a great film, but it's not terrible either. I went into this expecting it to be really gritty, and low budget, but the production value was better than expected.