Bamboozled

FEED THE IDIOT BOX *Move over, Danny, Morgan, Samuel L.! Out of my way, Eddie and Wesley! Make room for me, Will Smith! * Here comes Delacroix! For a man known for his biting criticism of racism in American society, this is somehow Spike's most confronting film by far. Spike Lee has been described as an "angry" filmmaker (especially in his younger years), but this is possibly the most outrageous and provocative film I've seen in a while. Modern minstrelsy criticisied in the most blunt way possible. A satirical modern minstrel show is pitched to a television network by their only Black creative Pierre Delacroix (Damon Wayans) and his assistant Sloan (Jada Pinkett Smith) in the hopes that he will be fired to escape his contract. Two homeless street performers (Savion Glover and Tommy Davidson) are selected to literally tap dance, shuck, jive and wear Blackface with large painted red lips on live television. To Pierre's horror, his boss (Michael Rapaport, who does a great job playing himself) responds enthusiastically and greenlights the show, which is a massive commercial success. The network completely removes all elements of satire from the show, and Pierre deals with the fallout of having made a genuine minstrel show. Damon Wayans does an incredibly weird accent in this. Wildly prescient of modern issues regarding what it means to have good Black representation in media and the line of where satire ends and hate begins, while also being ludicrous and jaw-droppingly disgusting to a fault. The Tommy Hilfiger parody is one of the most insane things I've ever seen. Reverend Al Sharpton and Johnnie Cochran even make a cameo! Have to wonder how this would go down if released in current times.