The debut film of writer/director Darnell Martin, 1994's I Like It Like That is a shrill peek at life in the Latino Bronx, a movie that goes for the comic jugular but just contains too much screeching for its own good. Here's an assemblage of characters that consistently rub each other the wrong way, getting in each others' faces, full of anger and spite and frustration, and after 2 hours of it, you find yourself wishing that they'd all just pop a Valium and chill out.

I Like It Like That follows the story of Lisette Linares (Lauren Velez), an unfulfilled and stressed young woman with an unmotivated but boastful husband, a loud apartment full of kids, and an unpromising dream to become a model, despite her unglamorous façade. Suddenly faced with the reality of her husband Chino (Jon Seda) being sent to prison, Lisette finds herself barely in control of her life, with no money and with everyone around her screaming at her. (I don't blame her at all for her frequent trips to the bathroom, where she shuts herself away from the world and screams inwardly.) But with the help of her cross-dressing brother, Alexis (Jesse Borrego), she lucks into a job with music producer Stephen Price (Griffin Dunne), whom Chino believes to be messing around with his wife. The plot devolves into ludicrous misunderstandings and moral missteps and somehow finds its way to a nice, happy ending, even though none of the characters deserve it.

The film's evocation of the Bronx is admittedly vivid, recalling Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing in its color and noise. But the characters don't seem to fit well into the scene; they feel more like caricatures spouting their lines. And as the plot progresses, the realism of the Bronx setting is further eclipsed by unlikely scenarios (Lisette's job luck) and Martin's unfortunate decision to pair the good-souled Lisette with the greasy Price. As much as I like Dunne as an actor, I found myself backing away from the good characterization of Lisette when she gave in to Price's yuppie overtures—particularly because these later sequences on music-video sets and in Price's office have no visual flair and none of the realism of the Bronx streets.

The acting is universally high-pitched and aggressive, except for Dunne's Price. In her screen debut, Velez is a standout, lacking the soft feminine features of your typical leading lady but radiating a fierceness that's appropriate for Lisette. Seda is macho and loud as Chino, and a particular disappointment is Rita Moreno as Rosaria Linares, his forked-tongue mother.

I Like It Like That is in that gray zone between comedy and bitter domestic drama, and I felt myself battered between the two. The silly moments and camera tricks of the first half are at odds with the sobering drug-scare and physical-and-psychological-abuse moments of the second half. And when all the violence and anger and hatred and jealousy and spite dissolve in the last few minutes into a picture of domestic bliss, you'll feel a certain emptiness.

HOW'S IT LOOK?

Columbia/TriStar presents I Like It Like That in a good anamorphic-widescreen transfer of the film's original 1.85:1 theatrical presentation. Touted on the cover as being "Remastered in High Definition," this effort is generally pleasing but comes with some annoyances. The good news is that colors are vivid and accurate, with no apparent bleeding (save for some minor problems with red in the opening credits). The film's palette seems to have come across with finesse. The film starts off a bit dark, with mediocre shadow detail, but it seems to improve as it goes (or maybe my eyes just grew used to it). Also, at first the film seems jittery and unstable, but that also seems to correct itself. The image is generally sharp, with okay detail, but you'll notice an ever-present softness, particularly in medium to far backgrounds, which are in a haze. Close-up detail is great. I noticed only minor edge halos.

HOW'S IT SOUND?

The disc's Dolby Digital 2.0 track is set at a surprisingly low level, so that I really had to crank this thing to get it to reference levels. And once I got the dialog at the right point, I found that the music was overpowering. The mix is score-heavy, therefore, and feels off. That being said, I found the dialog to be mostly accurate and clean, with only occasional clipping and distortion at the high end. Stereo separation across the front is minimal, and surround activity is also sparse. However, I noticed a couple instances of jarring stereo and surround play in, again, the score.

WHAT ELSE IS THERE?

All you get are Previews for Bad Boys 2, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, and Raising Victor Vargas. One interesting aspect of the first two trailers is that they are in fantastic 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and in Dolby Digital 5.1 sound—better than the feature! Vargas is also anamorphic but in Dolby 2.0.

WHAT'S LEFT TO SAY?

I Like It Like That contains too much shrill screaming to warrant a recommendation. In other words, I don't like it like that. Image and sound quality are average, and supplements are nonexistent.