Cast: Damon Wayans, Savion Clover, Jada Pinkett Smith, Michael Rapaport, Tommy Davidson, Thomas Jefferson Byrd, Mos Def
Director: Spike Lee
Producers: John Kilik, Spike Lee
Screenplay: Spike Lee
Cinematography: Ellen Kuras
Music: Terence Blanchard
U.S. Distributor: New Line Cinema
If I wanted to endure a two hour sermon, I would go to church on Sunday morning, not make my way to a movie theater. Spike Lee's latest film, Bamboozled, is a 135-minute rant against racist images of blacks in popular culture and the complacency with which the public accepts them. According to Lee, white America is all too happy to see the black man put down - as long as it occurs in a socially acceptable, non-threatening manner, such as on television. And, while those ideas have merit, Lee's heavy-handed approach turns Bamboozled into a tedious and overlong polemic. This is sledgehammer satire.
Throughout Bamboozled, Lee has a knack for underestimating the intelligence of his audience. As if afraid that movie-goers will somehow miss the point, he opens with a verbal definition of satire (it goes something like this: "Satire: the use of ridicule, sarcasm, irony, etc. to expose, attack, or deride vices, follies, stupidities, abuses, etc."), then proceeds to demonstrate that making a good satire is a more difficult task than adhering to the definition. Bamboozled is neither humorous nor subversively clever. It is too obvious to engage the intellect or stimulate discussion. The only ones likely to be challenged by anything presented here are the painfully naïve or sheltered - and they're unlikely to see the film in the first place. Subjecting everyone else to a soap box oratory masquerading as a satire is an act of ego worthy of Oliver Stone.
The movie centers on black television writer Pierre Delacroix (Damon Wayans), an industry insider who has obviously sold out to white corporate America. When his boss, Continental Network System exec Thomas Dunwitty (Michael Rapaport), demands that he come up with a fresh kind of show that isn't targeted at middle class blacks and will "make headlines", Delacroix has a brainstorm - devise a program that is so obviously racist that the entire population will be offended. That, he explains to his assistant, Sloan (Jada Pinkett Smith), will send a message to the TV watching audience. The result: Mantan: The New Millennium Minstrel Show, a variety show set in a watermelon patch on a plantation featuring two lead characters, Mantan (Savion Clover) and Sleep and Eat (Tommy Davidson), who are described as "ignorant, dull-witted, lazy, and unlucky" and are played by black actors wearing blackface (a style of makeup designed to push all kinds of buttons). And, of course, it's an instant phenomenon and a major hit.
In addition to his main thesis, Lee throws in a few red herrings which he fails to pursue with any vigor. These include how a poor man will sell out his art for a comfortable lifestyle and how America's thirst for the lurid could lead to a snuff film being shown on television. Bamboozled owes a great deal to Network, from aspects of the setup to the derivative conclusion, which comes across as unnecessarily melodramatic and violent.
One of the fundamental problems with Bamboozled is the lack of well-designed or sympathetic characters. The men and women populating this film are all crudely drawn types. For a satire to be effective, three-dimensional characters are not necessary, but a likable or intriguing protagonist certainly helps, whether it's Bulworth's Bulworth, Wag the Dog's Stanley Motss, or Forrest Gump's Forrest (provided you view that film as a social satire). In Bamboozled, we have the dull and buffoonish Delacroix and a cast of even more nebulous supporting characters - a greedy network suit, a black activist, a woman with a slice of conscience, and artists who prostitute their talent for fame. Lee isn't concerned about any of them; he just cares about the message.
In satire, things tend to be exaggerated and overblown for effect. Mantan is a prime example: an obviously repugnant and mirthless show that, in the real world, would stand no chance of becoming a national hit or the darling of the critics (in fact, it would never make it to the airwaves). By transforming such an overtly racist program into a Nielsen champion, Lee is stating his case - that American TV viewers are fundamentally racist and that the entertainment industry collaborates by providing entertainment that emasculates blacks. It's a stinging charge, but it is delivered in such a preachy manner that it fails to have an impact. Bamboozled feels like propaganda. Satire often works best with the sharp paring knife of subtlety; Lee has elected to use a meat cleaver.
When it finally arrives, the ending of Bamboozled goes way over-the-top. Not only is Lee's final solution dissatisfying and violently banal, but it skims over a host of potentially meaty issues that are ignored because they don't fit the director's vision. (There's also a huge misconception about the Internet, but I'll put that down to artistic license and let it slide.) And, as if that isn't enough, Bamboozled concludes with a five-minute collage of scenes showing how black entertainers were demeaned through the years in movies and on television. This might have made for the core of a compelling documentary, but, in this context, it serves only to deepen the sense that we are victims of an overlong sermon.
One additional comment needs to be made about Bamboozled, and that relates to its visual style. The film was shot on digital video, then transferred to 35 mm. The reason for this is no doubt twofold - artistically, this approach yields a gritty, documentary-like "feel" (ask Lars von Trier about this); financially, it's a lot less expensive. Unfortunately, in this case, the final product looks cheap and amateurish. Bamboozled doesn't seem to be the work of an accomplished filmmaker - it has the appearance of something shot by a neophyte.
The box office will likely bear out how little tolerance the movie-going public has for being preached to. Some potential viewers will be offended by the presence of characters wearing blackface, even considering the context in which they are presented. Others simply won't be interested in a motion picture that makes the likes of DROP Squad and White Man's Burden seem subdued by comparison. Bamboozled is actually an appropriate title, because that's how many audience members are going to feel after plunking down their hard-earned money to see this film.
© 2000 James Berardinelli