25th Hour (2002) on Netflix
Monty Brogan has one day of freedom left before a seven-year prison term begins. He spends it with his two best friends and Naturelle Riviera, the woman he lives with.
- Netflix3.6/5
- IMDb7.6/10191,647 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes79%
Trailer
Plot summary
Monty Brogan has one day left before he begins a seven-year prison term for selling drugs. He walks New York with Doyle, the injured dog he rescued, and visits the high school where he once played varsity basketball. His father James, a former firefighter, owns a Queens bar put up as bond so his son stays free until the sentence starts. That evening Monty plans a last club night with Frank Slaughtery, a trader, teacher Jacob Elinsky, and Naturelle Riviera, the woman he lives with.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about 25th Hour (2002)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The film was already in its planning stages when the September 11 attacks happened, and Spike Lee decided not to ignore the tragedy but to integrate it into his story; feelings of loss and uncertainty suffuse the finished picture.
- Tobey Maguire got the project moving: he read an early trade copy of David Benioff's novel, became interested in playing Monty Brogan, acquired the option and asked Benioff to adapt it. By the time the script was written he was too deep in Spider-Man to act, so he produced instead.
- David Benioff had considered leaving out the long monologue in which Monty rants against the five boroughs of New York, but Spike Lee persuaded him to keep it. Disney, which picked up the film rights, then wanted the monologue cut, and Lee persisted in filming the scene.
- In July 2025, more than twenty years after it first opened, the film ranked number 24 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century."
