Life in the inner city is commonly known in street slang as "the struggle." Only one who has lived in this environment can truly know the harsh realities and the depths of despair that the struggle brings. For the rest of us, we can only rely on honest and accurate portrayals of this life and, even then, we can only get a glimpse of the big picture.

Writer and director Buddy Giovinazzo has adapted his 1992 short story into a full-length feature film called Life Is Hot In Cracktown. Crafted similarly to films like Crash and Babel, Giovinazzo's movie intertwines the stories of four groups of people all commonly linked by their lives in the ghetto and their struggles of either living with or surrounded by addiction.

It's a predictable premise made all the more unbearable by the amateurish production values, bombastic acting and sheer unlikability of its characters. The result is a film akin to something you would find on the Lifetime Network at 2 in the morning... except that it is R-rated, which gives it license to be all the more offensive in its content and brutality, which borders on being exploitative. I am certainly not a prude nor am I oblivious to the ugliness and consequences of sin. I just don't need to be hammered over the head with it, especially when it adds nothing to the narrative or the development of character.

The ensemble cast includes Kerry Washington and Mark Webber as pre-op transsexuals, Evan Ross as a stereotypical gang member name Romeo, Ridge Canipe and Ariel Winter as young street squatters, and a host of other cardboard cut-out characters, each one more cliched and despicable than the next. Not only did I not care about these people, I cared even less if they would ever be redeemed and set free from the chains that bound them.

The potential for an engaging and thoughtful examination of "the struggle" is here. Unfortunately, this low-budget indie collapses under its own amateurish production and poor execution.