Customer Reviews

Bamboozled (Widescreen)

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

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.

In high school, I tried to convince our African American STudies teacher to plan a field trip to see this movie. He rebuffed me, and when I saw this movie on tape, I knew why.

I am glad that I am not the only one who knows Spike Lee is a racist. And a slick one at that. He does these movies and black people go see them (I am black, so don't attack me). Do The Right Thing was horrible, Jungle Fever (he ought to be ashamed) all in the name of "eye-opening" filmmaking. Give me a break

Bamboozled...I don't know what to say about this movie. Stereotypes, senseless violence, just downright shameful. There was no message here...except that, we, as black people, sometimes do it to ourselves (ex. Soul Plane? same problem). And helping this man, for the sake of a paycheck is deplorable.

Please spare yourself of this film.

_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). Spike Lee puts everything on the line, constructing a show around a desperate television writer who, in an attempt to lose his job, suggests that the network bring back a minstrel show. Unfortunately, the network and white America are all too ready to enjoy the stereotypes fed to them and the show becomes a huge success. The true shocker of the film is the realization that we are not far removed from the minstrel show (or, arguably, not removed at all). The most powerful sequence in the film for me is the section near the end where Lee has compiled a host of film and television sequences of African Americans "blacking up." This sequence, set to music, evokes emotions of sadness and disgust concerning racism like few films have before.

This film is a great statement and provides a different type of argumentation. If you can't argue with the ideas of racism by promoting positive images, go for the realm of satire and shove the racism in our faces. By doing so, our own ideas and images become absurd and much more-they become sickening. One cannot watch this film with an attentive mind and not feel sickened by the end of it. I can only fault it on a few points. First, the film feels far too long and loses steam in the middle. Fortunately, the ending of the film is quite gripping and brings it back on track. Secondly, I was not particularly impressed with Wayans's performance and would have liked to have seen a stronger actor in the role. Savion Glover, on the other hand, is quite good and his dancing is explosive and dynamic-truly the greatest tap dancer living today.

That being said, _Bamboozled_ is a film that will leave an impact on your imagination and deliver a lesson in U.S. history that will carry you forward into the present.

Fifty years from now, movie and social historians might study this film as a time capsule of race psychopathia in the 21st century. When this movie came out, Spike Lee gleefully bragged on cable television how he wanted to "lay it on the line" about race relations in America. What he should have said is that "I'm gonna make a movie where all the whites are stereotypical bigots, slobs and monsters. All the blacks will be portrayed as helpless victims who have no wills of thier own." The only thing missing from the white characters are Ku Klux Klan signs around their necks. While Lee spends his time attacking what he perceives to be inherent racism in caucasians, he says nothing about his own obvious tendency of racially profiling the hated ethnic group. No wonder this movie bombed big-time in America. What movie goer wants to be labeled a racist monster just because their skin isn't the right hue for Spike Lee?

Spike Lee's Bamboozled makes for uncomfortable viewing for those who seek to justify negative portrayals of black people in the modern media. Not only condemning those white people who appropriate black culture and seek to 'speak' on behalf of black people, he also confronts the difficult issues of stereotypes that black people themselves find attractive or 'real'. Indeed, the mantra of the wigger Dunwitty (head of the CNS network) is that of many black artists themselves, insisting that he's "Keeping it real" when confronted with accusations of racism in his New Millennium Minstrel Show.
As a teacher of Media and Film, this text is excellent when approaching issues of race, representation, and the media as it illustrates concepts such as institution, control, hegemony and power (particularly of representation!) - the Timmi Hilnigger adverts on the DVD really struck a chord with my students!

Although not a believable conceit, the film has power in the characterizations and how they tackle the difficult issues and themes facing real black actors, black audiences and black people working in the media (and the racism they face!)

Forget Chris Tucker, Eddie Murphy, Queen Latifah and Will Smith, get some Spike into yer veins!

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. I notice the negative feedbacks but I feel that is only a product of the shock and emotion that this movie provokes. Perhaps its the guilt of finding pleasure in the popular forms of black entertainment today that Spike Lee is so strongly against. So i will stress again please do see this film it is one of Spike Lee's better films.

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). Pierre Delacroix (Damon Wayans) cracked me up from the very beginning with his [false], overenunciated "Dr. Evil" accent -- I almost expected him to ask for "one MEEELION dollars" when pitching his idea for his new New Millenium Minstrel show. There are, of course, many stereotypes in this movie not limited to the characters on the show, but also including Delacroix as the white-black guy and his boss as the black-white guy who tells Delacroix that he "knows your people better than you do". The main characters of the Minstrel Show, Mantan and Sleep-n-Eat, are brilliant. Mantan is a talented tap-dancer and steals the show with his "educated feets". The jokes are hilarious because the show is so bizarre and parodies ideas that are so outdated for our time. The show is a big hit among blacks and whites alike and initially all seems like good, clean, albeit politically incorrect, humor. That is, until we realize that Delacroix, Mantan, and Sleep-n-Eat have sold out for personal profit and will pay the ultimate price for doing so. The tone of the conclusion of this movie is sad as it plays a montage of racially offensive clips from old movies and cartoons, reminding us of how harmful and hurtful these sorts of stereotypes really are. Although the subject matter is interesting, it is unclear exactly why Spike Lee chose to make a movie about it. Images of offensive toys and antiques are revived throughout scenes in Delacroix's office and the ending credits. Although these sorts of objects, along with the above-mentioned clips from old movies and TV shows, haven't been commonly seen in decades, Lee apparently felt that they still pose a threat to the perception of African-Americans, even in today's society.

Good golly, Miss Molly, you'd better see this movie! It's powerful, funny, disturbing, and will probably piss you off. Spike Lee's not too subtle here, he's going for the throat. As we all know, Lee likes to tackle racism most of the time, and this time he's got his sights on TV land. Michael Rappaport is hysterical in this. I find it hard to believe that a goofball like that would be in charge of a television station, but it's not a big deal. I do agree with the reviewers that say Damon Wayans' accent is silly. It's fake sounding and unnecessary. I'll admit it is funny at times. Also, I seriously doubt in this day and age a show like Mantan would ever get made or greenlighted, maybe only in an In Living Color skit. But, that's the point; This film is about excess, it's satirical and overblown on purpose. It starts out as a comedy, and by the end of the film gets very messed up and disturbing. Believe me, by the last half you won't find yourself laughing anymore. Please see it, pretty please.