I’m not a big fan of Spike Lee but this one seemed remotely interesting. Usually, Spike has a big chip on his shoulder and this one is no exception yet the subject matter is what prompted me to record it on my DVR from IFC.
The premise revolves around a TV network dying for a hit show. Senior Network Writer Pierre [Damon Wayans] is feeling the pressure from multiple directions; the head guy always gets the blame, being Black intensifies it and it’s show business, there’s always others on the staff waiting to take your job (Al Franken said that writers suffer more from backstabbing wounds than high blood pressure). It doesn’t help that his boss executive Dunwitty (Michael Rapaport) demands a “Black” show (whatever that means) because all the past efforts haven’t been realistic enough. Dunwitty is terribly annoying; the white guy who uses outdated Black slang and thinks he has the right to use the N word, all because he’s married to a Black woman. Pierre and his assistant Hopkins (Jada Pinkett-Smith) decide to come up with a show so offensive and controversial that it they’ll be fired and Pierre can break his contract. They recreate an old-time blackface show complete with stereotypes, profanity, lame jokes and tap dancing. To complete this scheme, Pierre hires a couple of street performers to be the stars (Tommy Davidson and Savion Glover). As expected, Dunwitty green lights the pilot but more oddly, the show is a runaway success.
The consequences and outcome of the show is where Spike Lee falls apart with what really could’ve been a good idea. I don’t think he could write an adequate ending so the movie concludes with implausible, idiotic violence. Spike also thinks NYPD has the skill to fire a shower of bullets at a group of rappers yet miss the one member with “white” skin. The ugly truth is that most shows are cancelled with little press or notice, some are even cancelled by the star. Sure there’s infighting with the cast and writers, that’s expected, people are political creatures regardless of skin color. However, Spike figures that his story required a different outcome yet I think he couldn’t write a good ending so he went with the lame one (even my personal favorite, Douglas Coupland, is guilty of this one).
Is this worth watching? Not really. Not because he’s up on his soap box giving the “shame, shame” gesture to Black and White America, especially with the montage of past potrayls of Blacks in cartoons and films (can’t forget Birth of a Nation when you want to brand all Whites bigots). Not because you have conversations between Blacks calling each other hurtful names over who “sold out.” It just is a disappointment of a film because he can’t come up with a better outcome (and it doesn’t have to be happy). I guess he didn’t want to have it end like Hollywood Shuffle or any other movie about how people off all stripes get used up and tossed away in show business