Review of Bamboozled (2000) by Richard T — 04 Feb 2009

This was my first experience with Spike Lee, and I guess I was kind of impressed and kind of underwhelmed. Spike does get at something with this film and the ideas he brings up are complex and mostly well developed, I did not even mind the over the top manner in which he handled most of the film despite being able to go with a more subtle approach if he so desired.

The direction was pretty well too, he used interesting shots throughout the film, allowing the camera to be free when the circumstances called for it and rigid when it worked to reinforce the film's themes, and there were a few angled shots that were incredibly well constructed, but just about everything else is passable at best.

The main character's 'accent' is understandable, and works with the main idea in the film, but easily wears on the viewer as the film progresses, and the rest of the actors are nothing special, plus the wrap up before the final montage just does not feel incredibly believable and a bit heavy handed.

Spike seems to have a problem knowing when to keep things centered on his message and when to let the plot develop, because the scenes of the actors going into the blackface were, every time, very powerful and worked incredibly well, but the whole romance plot and protest around the show was congested in the case of the first and mostly glossed over in the latter.

I think the film says a lot, and I think it could have been great, but there are too many outer flaws that undermine what Spike was doing, still I think the film is worth a viewing. 3.298589234.