I heard about this film and looked it up. The premise seemed fascinating and the first thing that came to mind is "I must watch this". Anticipating, from the visuals and advertising, this film would be a trippy ride through prison lane. Unfortunately as soon as I started watching, I got the sense of a very sanitized film with actors who I am sure had lots of terms and conditions imposed on the filmmakers prior to diving into making the film. In one word, the film just does not seem authentic. A simple a word as that maybe, it is the lifeblood of films of this type. If you are going to go through the troubles of doing a prison drama, get in there and get your feet wet. The actors skimped on all situations. Not sure if the script was written like that or what happened between the production and final cut. Whatever may have happened in the process, it is obvious many things got chopped and with them the fear and tension that this sort of situation brings about for any straight attorney who would have been wrongly classified in a prison system. The girl that the attorney meets at the beginning is so obviously female, she was miscast in the first place. Nowhere did her performance remotely resemble that of someone who may have been previously male. If you are going to do something like this.. go all the way. Get the real thing. You would never see obviously real women in a K-11 section and that is what spoiled it for me. Sometimes playing it safe can inhibit your film from all of the wonderful possibilities that could have been effective if more time and effort was placed in finding actors who could accurately portray a grim situation successfully in a rather dark place. My suspension of disbelieve got interrupted several times and at every attempt I made to try to immerse myself in the reality of what should have been a very dark, disturbing, spine tingling situation for the viewer. In other words I expected something around the realm of "OZ" the very successful cable series that did exemplify the tensions and fears that prison life entail. Sad to say, I felt instead of OZ I got something along the lines of "the wizard of OZ" version sprinkled with mild to light tension. Unfortunately, this was a missed opportunity.

Goran Visnjic gives a sincere performance in the lead role, but really that is all that is halfway decent about K-11. And this was from actually seeing the movie and giving it a fair chance, so there goes that rather ignorant assumption. Some people probably didn't even see the trailer and saw it only for Visnjic, myself belonging in this camp. The script is confused, it is not sure whether it wants to have exploitation laughs or sombre tragedy. Instead it tries to incorporate both and neither work, the comedy being forced and can fall into the distasteful category for some and the tragedy being mawkish and you never care enough for the characters to genuinely feel it. Okay some of the grind-house punchlines are not so bad, but they are too far and between. The dialogue at best is tepid also. Another major failing is the story, it is slow and almost non-existent and you don't feel any of the tensions and fears of prison life. Part of the reason why you are not engaged with anything here is because the movie in an attempt to trying not to offend plays it too safe. There are also campy elements that are too artificially done and while the comic exaggerations are played for shocks, there was little that came across as genuinely shocking and instead it was too exaggerated and too overdone. There are cheaper-looking movies out there, however K-11 does nothing interesting with the photography or the single-room cell-block, they are just there with no signs of life. The music is pulpy and loud, but often overbears everything. I couldn't care less about who Jules Stewart's family is- that's never been an overriding factor in my judgement of movies, never has been, never will be and also it shouldn't be- what really matters is whether her involvement in K-11 worked in its favour. It didn't, it had intent sure but turned out to be every bit as confused as the script. Visnjic gives the only good performance, the rest struggle with the cardboard characters and give cartoonish caricatures in the process. All in all, apart from Visnjic- who deserved better than this- a messy movie that played it too safe and didn't know what to do with itself. 2/10 Bethany Cox

CELL K-11 is an odd little prison movie with grindhouse sensibilities. This one steps away from offering a realistic approach to instead go all-out with over-the-top characters and outlandish situations. The main character, as played by former E.R. actor Goran Visnjic, is the usual innocent guy who wakes up one day and finds himself thrown into the homosexual wing of a Los Angeles jail.

This film seems more occupied with detailing transsexual culture more than anything else. The cast features a bunch of actresses playing transsexual or transvestite characters and many of them are believable in their parts, particularly Kate del Castillo, who steals the show as the completely convincing Mousey, the woman who runs the wing. Others like Portia Doubleday (MR. ROBOT) fare less well but still deliver kooky performances.

The main problem with this film is the story, or rather lack of it. It seems to slide along aimlessly, giving a good example of prison life but failing to involve the viewer in any way. Take Visnjic's plight, which is predictable and extremely uninteresting. The supporting players are more interesting than the lead, including D.B. Sweeney's slimy prison officer, Tommy 'Tiny' Lister as the resident rapist, and Jason Mewes as, unsurprisingly, a drug dealer. The usual sex and violence fills the screen, giving this a hard grindhouse edge.