Scanialara
You won't be disappointed!
Lachlan Coulson
This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.
Freeman
This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.
Dana
An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
SyNcDiT Camerainup
I thought this was one of the very few works that challenges the viewer to answer valid questions of them selves. Particularly I felt the address was to African Americans(Blacks)and the Question was this: Are you entertainment or are you human?To me it clearly stated the contributions African Americans have made to their own stereotypical position in American Society, Illustrating that the power to minimize these stereotypes rest within the African American 1st. I saw it written in reviews that this film was about "white guilt", I completely disagree. In my viewing I did not find that white Americans were part of the story line beyond atmosphere. This film was written by African American's(Blacks) informatively & the question was posed to African Americans (Blacks, educationally. One of the few films on the subject of Race where guilt was not a factor of either side. Enjoyed It.
kclaydawson
Yes, Spike Lee is an excellent movie director. So are others. However, he distinguishes himself with depictions of "black" or "colored" Americans being victimized by "white" society. As in his movie "CSA," Lee dredged up the long dead corpse of slavery to remind everyone that racism abounded in America long ago. What he cannot understand is that segregation and slavery were curses on everyone. "Whites" fought a war over it while "blacks" were still selling their brothers and sisters to slave traders in Africa. The NAACP was begun by white people. So, why must he cling to the bitterness of a past that died long ago? Why not discover what America has become? Either Lee failed to understand the message of Bamboozled and CSA,or he must hate his own race. In CSA, he shows an America that never rid itself of slavery, yet still landed a man on the moon, became a global power, and was an economic giant. The only difference between our country and an America where slave-holding was mandatory was the lack of entertainers and sports. Is that what Lee believes about the races? I hate to tell him this, but there are great entertainers and athletes who couldn't't pass as black. In "Bamboozled," blacks betrayed blacks by profiting from insulting racial stereotypes. They made money by using the "N" word in every sentence. One character claimed that saying the "N" word kept his teeth "white." It certainly lined his pockets. It has lined Spike's pockets. too.So, what has Lee accomplished in this movie? I think that once again he has bamboozled us all.
Boston_Sox
I went through equal parts of liking and disliking this movie. Enough so that I feel the need to write it out here.First the good: The message of this movie is right on. It really makes you think about portrayals of blacks in popular culture not only in the past, but in the present. How different is the dichotomy between the straight laced Tommy Lee Jones and the "hip/cool" Will Smith in a movie like Men in Black from that between the "massa" ("yes sa") and the black house servant in movies of old? So the movie is good in terms of making you think about these things. All of the scenes showing the black face performances on the "Man-Tan Show" and the montage of blacks in entertainment at the end of the movie are quite poignant, and frankly left me speechless and fixated on the television screen.The bad: The acting and script left a lot to be desired. Okay, to be fair, Damon Wayans left a lot to be desired. Has a good performance EVER come out of a Wayans brother? I understand he was trying to perform a "white" black man, but every word out of his mouth felt so forced that it was painful to listen to. Other than Wayans the acting, while not superb, wasn't terrible. The script however had a lot of problems. It felt like it was forced along too much, being made to lead to Mr. Lee's agenda rather than unfold naturally as a story. This made it feel rushed at times and completely ludicrous at others.Overall, if you want to be made to think about race in America and in entertainment, this is a good movie to pick up. However, you will have to sit through some painful acting and a lackluster script, so be prepared.
PanamaJoe
I enjoyed Bamboozled up until the last half hour. The murder sequences turned a smart and poignant comedy into a heavy-handed morality play. After the bloodbath, the comical voice-over narration seemed grossly inappropriate. Besides, the characters' fates were completely out-of-keeping with their roles in the movie. How come Man Ray's business partner got to live and Man Ray died? Man Ray was definitely the more sympathetic of the two. Also, it pained me to see Jada Pinkett Smith's character go from smart, successful woman to crazed, gun-wielding lunatic. I wish they could have just cut out the murder sequences and went straight to the well-conceived-and-executed ending montage.All told, Bamboozled is a good movie that, like nearly every other film made in the last 15 years, would have been better off had they cut a half hour from it's running time. What was it that Hitchcock said about how movies should be timed to the carrying capacity of the human bladder?
