Editing Jason's Lyric (section)

==Reception==
''Jason's Lyric'' received generally mixed reviews from critics. It currently has a 58% approval rating on [[Rotten Tomatoes]] based on 24 reviews, with an average score of 5.8/10. The site's consensus reads: "''Jason's Lyric'' is a sexually charged film whose violent streak weakens or, depending on your perspective, supports the melodrama."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jasons_lyric|title=Jason's Lyric|website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]|publisher=[[Fandango Media]]|access-date=June 28, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200731185948/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jasons_lyric|archive-date=July 31, 2020|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Roger Ebert]] gave the movie praise for its cast's performances, director Doug McHenry's "lyrical touches" to the poetic aesthetics of Bobby Smith, Jr.'s script and its willingness to tackle dramatic themes that ''New Jack City'' and ''[[Sugar Hill (1994 film)|Sugar Hill]]'' also explored, concluding that, "It's not some little plot-bound genre formula. It's invigorating, how much confidence it has, and how much space it allows itself."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/jasons-lyric-1994|title=''Jason's Lyric'' Movie Review|last=Ebert|first=Roger|author-link=Roger Ebert|newspaper=[[Chicago Sun-Times]]|publisher=[[Sun-Times Media Group]]|date=September 28, 1994|access-date=March 22, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200218051654/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/jasons-lyric-1994|archive-date=February 18, 2020|url-status=live|via=[[RogerEbert.com]]}} {{Rating|3|4}}</ref> Deborah Young from ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' praised the performances of Whitaker, Payne and Woodbine, and the visual settings created by McHenry and cinematographer Francis Kenny but felt the film's script "stumbles into a lame love story and ends in a conventional shootout and bloodbath."<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://variety.com/1994/film/reviews/jason-s-lyric-1200438529/|title=Jason's Lyric|last=Young|first=Deborah|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|publisher=[[Penske Media Corporation]]|date=September 19, 1994|access-date=March 22, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180327144703/https://variety.com/1994/film/reviews/jason-s-lyric-1200438529/|archive-date=March 27, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

Peter Rainer of the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' called the film "a terribly earnest melodrama with king-size ambitions", commending the filmmakers for their overall attempt at artistic cinema but found it "overextended and unbelievable both as love story and as urban tragedy."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-09-28-ca-43811-story.html|title=Movie Review: Ambitious 'Jason's Lyric' Falls Short of Redemption|last=Rainer|first=Peter|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=September 28, 1994|access-date=January 2, 2021|url-access=subscription|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210102153821/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-09-28-ca-43811-story.html|archive-date=January 2, 2021|url-status=live}}</ref> In response to his review, filmmaker [[Jamaa Fanaka]] gave high praise to the film's two main leads, its supporting cast, and the direction of McHenry. He also counteracted Rainer's opinion of the sex scenes being there to raise the film's box office, saying that its target demographic want to see romantic stories that feature two black leads in said scenes, and that the film offers them a sort of "cinematic sexual healing."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-10-24-ca-54105-story.html|title=Big Amen for Rhythmic, Riveting and Sexy 'Jason's Lyric'|last=Fanaka|first=Jamaa|author-link=Jamaa Fanaka|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=October 24, 1994|access-date=January 2, 2021|url-access=subscription|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210102154249/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-10-24-ca-54105-story.html|archive-date=January 2, 2021|url-status=live}}</ref>

''[[Entertainment Weekly]]''{{'}}s [[Lisa Schwarzbaum]] gave it a C, writing that she found the brotherly storyline between Jason and Joshua more compelling than the main romantic plot, saying that the latter was "so dense with big themes strung together that character development suffers. And the emotional sum is less than the interconnection of its Tragedy 101 parts."<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://ew.com/article/1994/10/07/movie-review-jasons-lyric-2/|title=Movie Review: 'Jason's Lyric'|last=Schwarzbaum|first=Lisa|author-link=Lisa Schwarzbaum|magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|publisher=[[Time Inc.]]|date=October 7, 1994|access-date=March 27, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201020181326/https://ew.com/article/1994/10/07/movie-review-jasons-lyric-2/|archive-date=October 20, 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> In a review for ''[[The New York Times]]'', [[Caryn James]] criticized the filmmaking for being overly stylized with its poetic aspirations and making the plot twist "unintentionally confusing rather than deliberately holding back information" with its editing. She called ''Jason's Lyric'' "a muddled film that takes a standard urban action movie and adds a veneer of overwrought romance."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/28/movies/film-review-in-a-blighted-landscape-a-tale-of-two-brothers.html|title=In a Blighted Landscape, a Tale of Two Brothers|last=James|first=Caryn|author-link=Caryn James|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=September 28, 1994|access-date=March 22, 2018|url-access=subscription|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210102154719/https://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/28/movies/film-review-in-a-blighted-landscape-a-tale-of-two-brothers.html|archive-date=January 2, 2021|url-status=live}}</ref>