Bamboozled


Starring Damon Wayons, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Tommy Davidson, Savion Glover, Michael Rapaport. Written and Directed by Spike Lee.

Dunwitty (Rapaport), head of the CNS Television network, is mad at his TV writers and execs because the network ratings are way down. He wants to get away from unfunny, bland sitcoms and wants to become more cutting edge. He berates his only black executive Pierre Delacroix (Wayans) because the Harvard-trained writer isn't down with his people enough to create cutting-edge black-centric shows that will bring in lots of white viewers. Delacroix decides he wants to get fired to get out of his contract. He conspires with his ambitious assistant Sloane (Pinkett-Smith) to create the most racist and offensive show he can. He envisions an old-fashioned minstrel show called Mantan, where negro actors in black-face dance, eat watermelon, tell stupid jokes and act like "Alabama porch coons". To his surprise, Dunwitty loves the idea and so does the network.

Two homeless guys who dance for change on the streets are hired as the principal characters Mantan (Glover) and Sleep'N'Eat (Davidson). The show is an immediate hit. Studio audience members, black and white, start showing up to the tapings in blackface, and soon kids are wearing blackface in public, and adults are buying blackface memorabilia. There are protests from among others Johnny Cochrane and Rev. Al Sharpton about the obviously racist content in the show, but the public seems to like the chance to be politically incorrect. But things do not end particularly well.

The main point of Bamboozled is that television has pigeonholed black performers into comedies, and those black characters tend to play the lazy, grinning black fools not that far removed from the dancing blackface characters of Amos and Andy days back in the 1930's and 1940's. The Mantan ministrel show is a very exaggerated example of how Spike Lee believes television portrays black Americans. Spike Lee not too subtly shows this by sprinkling clips of old films where black actors, often in blackface, talk jive, dance and tell simple jokes. The film then flashes to clips of TV shows, such as The Jeffersons and grinning "Dynomite" Jimmie Walker in Good Times to suggest blacks that appear on TV have historically been put in sitcoms playing dimwitted, buffoon-like characters. There is also indirect criticism of The Cosby Show type shows featuring middle class blacks because the characters are too well-off and "too white". One might ask what type of comedy shows would then be acceptable. There is also no mention that there are many key black characters in dramas like Law and Order and The Practice that are positively presented.

Like many Spike Lee films, such as the excellent Do The Right Thing, the film ends with incendiary violence, but in this case, the violence moves beyond excessive to overly manipulative. Without giving too much away, characters are killed with little consideration for believability. But before this ending occurs, the story is told in an interesting and well-paced way, with the satire presented insightfully. The character of Pierre Delacroix is interesting. He creates the Mantan show to be as racist and disgusting as possible but as it becomes a big hit, he begins to enjoy the power and affection many have for him now that he's made a hit. He becomes offended when someone criticizes the show for its content, questionning why they can't be happy for his success. I doubt if this show could in reality become a hit show - while there are funny parts, there are just too many things that made me cringe and I suspect would quickly turn off most of the audience.

The performances are generally good. They tend to incorporate the improvational style often found in a Spike Lee movie. Standing out is Tommy Davidson as the brains behind the dancing duo who wants to make it big, but is sick to his stomach about the kind of show they are doing to get there. Pinkett-Smith is quite good as the ambitious assistant who just can't believe the network is putting this show on television and that Delacroix has come to embrace the show he originally created to get himself fired. Bamboozled is somewhat uneven in quality and the ending is way over the top, but there is enough insightful material to make it worth seeing.




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