Hello, WORLD! First review in a long time & it's a BIZZEE pick at that! Hot on the hills of the hottest celebrity beef of the moment between directors Spike Lee & Tyler Perry, I decided to review one of Spike's best movies, the often overlooked BAMBOOZLED. In more ways than one, this review is timed perfect. I just got word that the Madea star is planning on remaking the urban classic JUICE. Really? Why? Hasn't Tyler already proved he's a talented director of stage plays BUT he hasn't translated that talent into directing great movies? Sure, his movies gross millions of dollars but none of his movies are what you would call "great". In my opinion, he is the main mass producer of what I call romantized hood flicks, the movies that almost always perpetuate African American sterotypes. Madea is so over the top sterotypical, she is as depressing as she is entertaining. I don't understand why she works so well in the stage plays of which I am admittedly a huge fan of & why I can't stand this same character in the movies which are almost line for line indentical to the plays.
Let's back up to the beef for 1 second before I go into the review. Where did this beef come from? It started with Lee last year critizing the Perry produced TV show's MEET THE BROWNS, based on the hit plays, & the recently canceled HOUSE OF PAYNE. Lee said these shows were reminiscent of Mantan Moreland & Sleep N Eat (if you don't know who they are or what they represent, you will if you get this movie!). Spike said these shows & Tyler's movies remind him of those stereotypically charicatures of African Americans. That's Spike's opinion & somewhat close to my own opinion. Here's my question: since win is it wrong to voice your opinion, especially one that Spike has had for years? Tyler isn't the only person Spike has called out on this issue & he won't be the last either. Spike, love him or hate him, is always trying to raise the awareness of the African American community & although sometimes he may go overboard, I applaude his efforts in this matter. Tyler, on the other hand, has done as much as he could since he rose to stardom to make sure that most of Black Hollywood are still working & for that, he also deserves some praise. I didn't say I hated his cast; the casting wasn't the problem with the DIARY OF A MAD BLACK WOMAN or MADEA'S FAMILY movies. The problem was the movies don't translate onto the big screen well, the reason being is characters in plays don't need as many dimensions as movie characters do. That's just my opinion, mind you, but apparently it's shared with a lot of other critics too so I don't feel I'm wrong on the subject.
Anyway, let me get to the review. This is probably Spike's most unoriginal movie. The reason I say that is it is an African American version of the 1977 (I believe) Best Picture Oscar winning movie NETWORK. In that movie, a TV newsanchor is fed up with the stuff that he has to report so he does a complete 360 &... You know, I don't have to go into details with that. But Spike's movie tackles a different subject altogether. A black television show creator named Pierre Delacroix (comedic genius Damon Wayans, playing it almost totally straight here) is pressed by his Caucasian (but Blacker than Pierre ever would be)boss (Micheal Rapport) to come up with a television series. The catch? It has to be more, er, "urban" than his most recent series ideas. Feeling sleighted, Pierre & his beautiful assisant Sloan (Jada Pinkett Smith) come up with the most offensive television show to African Americans this side of AMOS & ANDY in an attempted to be fired. How offensive? Brace yourself: the show stars street performers Manray & Womack (Savion Glover & Tommy Davidson) as 2 "Alabama Porch Monkeys" and takes place in a watermelon patch for starters. Needless to say, instead of being fired for that bull, the show is a hit & Pierre embraces the success that his show brings while continually disrespecting African Americans such as a now disgusted-with-her-part-in-it Sloan & her brother Julius, who goes by the name "Big Blak Afrika"(rapper Mos Def in his acting debut), de facto leader of a militant rapper group the Mau Maus, resulting in tragic results. The acting in this movie wasn't nominated for any Oscars nor should they have been. This movie wasn't about entertaining (although I do find it entertaining in some of the worst ways; I honestly cracked up at some of the most offensive bits in this film). The film is a satire that takes aim at the things we call entertainment such as the movies & music videos that demean our woman, portray African Americans in unflattering lights and such. Before this movie, MARTIN was one of my favorite shows; nowadays, I can't stand it with a passion! I also have to applaud Dave Chappelle, whose self titled TV show was heading down the same path as MARTIN (and IN LIVING COLOR, an African American sketch comedy in the same vein as Dave's show). He turned down $55 million dollars because he was unhappy with the shows direction. I take that to mean he saw his show heading the "Stepping N Fetching" route but I could be wrong. No matter what his reasons were, he still had the integrity to walk away from that kind of money & that says a lot about his character. Anyway, the message of this movie is clear: we, as African American directors, actors, etc, have a responsibilty to truthfully depict ourselves in movies & in other media. Most foreign countries learn what they know about African Americans from our movies. Shouldn't they know we're not just porch monkeys by now? Then why do they still think we are? Maybe Madea can help answer that.
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