Bamboozled (Widescreen)

 

 

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This film is so schizophrenic I spent most of the running time trying to figure out exactly what Spike Lee was trying to achieve, and why it wasn't working. It wasn't until I saw the interview with Damon Wayans in the Making-of featurette on the DVD that it became clear what had happened. Wayans explained that the week before shooting began he had run into a guy who spoke the way his character in Bamboozled ultimately wound up speaking, and said to himself, "I've got to do this character." Which would have been okay on In Living Colour, where it would have been unfunny for the duration of exactly one sketch, and then we'd never have been subjected to that particular impression again. Unfortunately, in this film he foisted a completely unrelated persona onto a character that it is obvious from the dialogue was meant to be played utterly straight, utterly middle class, not with a stupid, phony accent. Time was, television was where the white middle class went to see itself reflected, and Wayans character, as written, appears to have become a TV writer because he's trying to give the black middle class a reflection of itself in mass media. These days, if you aren't represented on television, you have to wonder if you really exist, and he wants the black middle class to be able to say, there, you see, we're real: we're on television. It sounds like a small thing, but when the closest your culture has ever come to that is the Cosby Show and (god help us) the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, you're dealing with a culture that can't see itself in the mirror. But rather than showing us a decent man who begins with the best of intentions but winds up becoming grotesque when the racist wake up call he intended to shame his audience with turns out to be a hit with both whites and blacks, Wayans gives us a character who starts out as subtly nuanced as Steve Urkel and ends the same way. The message gets lost as the audience wonders what the hell Wayans is doing and what they're supposed to be feeling. The movie becomes a freakshow instead of a tragedy.

The sad thing is, scrape away Wayans' performance and the script is much, much better than it seems. If you want to know how it was supposed to play, just imagine the lead played by someone who didn't think he was still doing sketch comedy and suddenly it works. But don't blame Wayans. It's Spike's film, and it's just incredible that he would allow a single member of the cast to hijack and completely subvert the entire intent of the script. The lack of directorial control isn't limited to Wayans performance, either. Jada Pinket Smith gives the best performance in the film -- dignified and very appealing, she comes closest to what Wayans' character was meant to be and what he was hoping to see represented on American television -- but even she doesn't know how she's supposed to be reacting half the time -- sometimes she's in character, but sometimes it appears to be the actress herself reacting to what's going on in the scene and not her character at all. In short, she doesn't appear to have been given any direction, and this weird inconsistent tone is present across the board. But, again, her confusion is entirely down to the fact that she's obviously meant to respect Wayans' character in the beginning -- but he's already such a gross parody that it simply isn't possible that that she could like anything about him. Lee's hatred for what Wayans' character ultimately becomes is so intense that he can't seem to wait for him to become that, and instead of giving us the sad picture of the man becoming grotesque, he's already that way when we meet him, and there's no place for the film to go. Considering the tight control Lee is capable of, you get the sense he just didn't show up on set once things got away from him, and let the actors direct their own performances with no regard for the demands or tone of the script.

I think I know why he relinquished control, too. He knew he wasn't going far enough, and was, ultimately, turning in a futile effort. The only way the minstrel show thing works is if you come right out and acknowledge -- as Michael Franti and the Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy fearlessly did in their song 'Famous and Dandy (Like Amos and Andy)' -- that the minstrel show, unfortunately, can't be revived because it never went away. It's alive and well, wearing gold, rapping about ho's, and making movies buried under latex fat suits. If Flavor Flav isn't the new Stepin Fetchit, then Eminem isn't the new Elvis. But the black Woody Allen, in this case at any rate, appears to have lost the courage to turn that satiric gaze on African American culture's complicity in its own betrayal, and lets that message get lost in a welter of confusion. There's a long, sad montage sequence at the end of the film that strings together racist depictions of blacks on film, from Birth Of A Nation to The Jeffersons, (actually, I think it stops short of the Jeffersons, too, though they're referenced with a clip earlier in the film), but it ends twenty years too soon. Spike had an opportunity to show the continuity between black face and the sad state of affairs today. If he wanted to have another crack at making the film today the perfect final image for that montage would be a crossfade between stills of Manton Moreland and Flavor Flav, in his viking helmet and big clock necklace, in a clinch with Brigitte Nielsen.

Oh, hell no, you dittint say that!

Oh, hell yes, I did. It's a bad time to be black in North America. I certainly wouldn't want to have to do it. But satire has to be unsparing: once you take aim, you can't take prisoners, either. Too bad. Bamboozled could have been an interesting film. It could have been the black Network, as Spike clearly intended it to be. As it is, it's just a strangely futile misfire.

This is the movie that got me turned on to Mr Lee. When I rented this movie just a few years ago I watched it 3 times and then watched it with the audio commentary. I found the movie *that* interesting. Also, the movie has a few layers to its plot so each time one watches it, they're sure to pick up on something new.

The characters are also great - I especially love Damon Wayan's boss who is a caucasian married to a black woman and tells Damon "I'm more black than you are" From that point on, you know this movie is going to put a lot of stuff in your face.

The basic premise - Damon's character is tired of the types of shows with black people that show on tv nowadays. It's all very stereotypical (think this summer's "Method and Red" on fox) and he wants to do something creative. His boss wants something along the lines of "homeboys in outer space". Damon's character is so incensed that he decides he'll get fired in order to break his contract.

What could be better for getting him fired than to make the most racist and ignorant show on tv? He decides to make a show called "Bamboozled" which will recreate the blackface shows of the 30s and 40s only it will be black actors putting on blackface. There's only one problem with his plan: the show becomes a hit.

The rest of the movie shows what happens to the rest of the characters in the style of a Shakesperean tragedy. In other words, a few things don't quite go according to plan and everyone suffers. (ie Romeo & Juliet, MacBeth, etc)

Another thing that makes this movie so awesome is the fictitious commercial spot during the show Bamboozled. Spike Lee takes a pot shot at Tommy Hilfigger's alleged marketing directed at blacks with another brand whose name I can't write or my review will be banned. You'll be shocked, but in a revealing sort of way.

I have to applaud Spike for making this film. People can argue if he is a racist or not, but on this film he showed how corporate America market their products to black inner city people. I for one used to work in a marketing department at a large corporation and this type of behavior went on all the time. So many times, I had to smile and walk away when I heard "you people" and "those people like stuff like that". What is worst is some black artists (namely rappers) help build on these negative stereotypes. They are NO different from the black actors of the 30s who was paid to demean their race. Instead of black people getting mad at Spike for making these films, I suggest you take your anger out on the real culprits and their marketing schemes. BTW, these culprits come in ALL RACES.

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1.0 out of 5 stars What I really want is O Stars...
In high school, I tried to convince our African American STudies teacher to plan a field trip to see this movie. Read more

Published on May 26 2004 by LoVe2ReAd

4.0 out of 5 stars The Sadness of Racism and Blackface
_Bamboozled_, quite simply, achieves what it sets out to achieve. As I watched this film, I was made very uncomfortable (in fact, this point cannot be stressed enough). Read more

Published on May 15 2004 by Daniel R. Sanderman

1.0 out of 5 stars Desperate
Fifty years from now, movie and social historians might study this film as a time capsule of race psychopathia in the 21st century. Read more

Published on May 10 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent satire on white corporate media
Spike Lee's Bamboozled makes for uncomfortable viewing for those who seek to justify negative portrayals of black people in the modern media. Read more

Published on Mar 21 2004 by disgruntled

5.0 out of 5 stars Whoa
I will not elaborate too much. This film had great camera work. I am a fan of hand held filming because its a lost art form. It is a very imortant movie to watch. Read more

Published on Feb 6 2004 by ari83

4.0 out of 5 stars Wickedly Humorous, Thought-Provoking, and Disturbing
I can best describe this movie as befitting a genre that starts out funny, but gradually becomes very intense, violent, and disturbing (a la Full Metal Jacket). Read more

Published on May 9 2003 by Nadia

5.0 out of 5 stars Not Lee's best film, but it's my favorite!
Good golly, Miss Molly, you'd better see this movie! It's powerful, funny, disturbing, and will probably piss you off. Read more

Published on Mar 23 2003 by Stanley Runk

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Movie
In order to truly appreciate Bamboozled, one must understand the general message that Spike Lee was trying to get across. Read more

Published on Dec 21 2002

3.0 out of 5 stars Black Remake of "Network" Doesn't Entirely Work
The brilliant satiric writer, the late Paddy Chyefsky, wrote "Network" which swept up some major Oscars back in the 1970s. Read more

Published on Nov 7 2002 by carol irvin

5.0 out of 5 stars The Truth Hurts
I grabbed Bamboozled off of the video store shelf after passing it several times. After viewing it I was nearly in tears. Read more

Published on Oct 14 2002 by Charles M. Lee

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