Rating: 
Summary: RACIST FAUX FARCE FALLS FLAT
Review: Spike Lee is a rich black filmmaker who successfully exploits his alleged anger at racial stereotypes in his movies. In the unfortunately titled BAMBOOZLED, he takes a sledgehammer to a questionable notion for a satire on American media, race, and ratings and pounds away until all that's left is a bitter, lengthy, harangue devoid of wit, style and humor. This is one tedious mess of a movie that feels like it's about ten hours long. Daman Wayans is Pierre Delacroix, the lone African-American exec at a TV network. His white boss Dunwitty (Michael Rapaport) wants him to come up with a "black" show to rescue the failing network. Not a "Jeffersons" or "Cosby" but something hip and "homey" friendly. What he delivers is "Mantan: The New Millennium Musical." It's set in a watermelon patch and stars two former street entertainers in black face. This travesty becomes an unexpected hit (a la "The Producers") but Lee's movie quickly disintegrates into a senseless, disjointed hodge-podge of unfocused subplots. There's a love triangle and gun-toting revolutionaries. Blood is spilled. Bleakly visualized and tedious, the whole enterprise sinks in a morass of self-righteous preaching. For those who endure,there is one redeeming, brilliant touch at the very end: a montage of archival footage that displays demeaning racial images from popular entertainment. It has more power and says everything the previous 136 minutes fails to deliver. There's also a tedious feature-length narration by Lee, deleted scenes, music videos and a making-of documentary. Too bad the whole subject wasn't a documentary like Lee's searing "Four Little Girls."
Rating: 
Summary: An Important, Shocking Film
Review: Say what you will about Spike Lee, but don't ever call him subtle. "Bamboozled" is about as subtle as a riot. Trying to point out the continued degradation of African-Americans in popular entertainment and getting its title from a quote by Malcolm X, Lee's film creates a "Twenty-First Century Minstrel Show" that is shocking, overwhelmingly racist, and proves its point remarkably well.Damon Wayans tries out his dramatic chops as Pierre Delacroix, Uncle Tom-esque television writer who decides (either in an attempt to get fired, or to make a point to the network or the viewers, who knows) to create the Mantan show, featuring two down-and-out street performers (Tommy Davidson and Broadway tap guru Savion Glover). The "Mantan" show is set in a watermelon patch. It features, among other characters, Aunt Jemima and Lil' Nigger Jim. The actors are in blackface. The show is horribly racist, the performers become increasingly dehumanized, and the show is a huge hit. Wayans proves suitable as the torn writer, though his accent seems a little forced, and keeps reminding us of his "In Living Color" days (not that it's such a bad thing, "In Living Color" was a fantastic show, but it's distracting). The cast as a whole is wonderful, with Jada Pinkett-Smith as Delacroix's conscious, Michael Rapaport as the white television producer who is "down with the black man," and a stellar turn by rapper Mos Def as the frontman of a politically charged hip hop ensemble, Mau Mau. Oh, and the house band is The Roots. The best performances, though, come from Paul Mooney as Junebug, Delacroix's comedian father who refused to sell his soul, and from Davidson and Glover as the stars of the show. Their performances highlight the best of minstrelsy: incredibly talented black performers who had to reinforce negative stereotypes if they wanted to work. Lee manages to get quite a few punches in, directly mocking award acceptance speeches by Cuba Gooding Jr. and Ving Rhames, and even throwing a jab at Pinkett-Smith's husband, Will Smith. The most painful punch, however, is the one he throws to the racist television industry, which continues to portray blacks, with some exceptions, in pretty much the same way it did in the days of Amos and Andy. A great film to see; watch out for a serious lack of political correctness, but keep in mind that you should be offended.
Rating: 
Summary: only occasionally interesting failure
Review: Even a failure by Spike Lee is often more interesting than a success by many another filmmaker. His latest film, "Bamboozled" attempts to come to terms with the quandary faced daily by many African Americans: in a world where white people hold the majority of the wealth and power, can a black person move ahead without sacrificing his or her own roots and heritage in the process? Does aiming for success in a white man's world automatically peg that black person with the derisive epithet "Uncle Tom"? And, if that is indeed the case, what option does that leave an ambitious black person in determining his own future and place in society? To examine this theme, Lee has chosen to concentrate on the microcosm of entertainment television, an area that has often fallen victim to this schizophrenic view of Black America. On the one hand, television has been attacked for portraying a white bread, homogenized view of middle class blacks in series like "The Cosby Show," while at the same time being criticized for catering to lower class stereotypes in more "realistic," urban-oriented shows as "The Jeffersons" and "Good Times." Lee has decided to aim most of his barbs at the latter type, creating a scenario in which these stereotypes are reduced to their most obvious, insulting level. Damon Wayans stars as Pierre Delacroix, a pompous, pretentious but, we're told, brilliant comedy writer who comes up with the idea to create a show so offensive in its nature that it will shock all Americans into reexamining their own misconceptions and prejudices about blacks. His idea is simply to resurrect the spirit of Amos 'n Andy, hiring a tap dancer and his partner to appear in black face on a weekly television variety show. When his program director, Mr. Dunwitty (played by Michael Rapaport in an absurdly over-the-top performance) agrees to green light the idea, Delacroix finds himself with a surprise hit show on his hands. But what price success? For Delacroix begins to question whether or not the program is really being appreciated for its "satirical" bite or whether it is instead being taken at face value by a racist, undiscriminating audience. The idea has potential, but Lee, alas, is never able to bring it off successfully. For one thing, the black face routine seems strangely uncontroversial this late in the game. Why resurrect an issue that has long since been laid to rest? Lee hits his satirical target much more effectively in the brief commercials we are afforded glimpses of than in the lame, gruelingly unfunny sketches that take up long stretches of the film. We simply cannot believe that these tired, badly staged routines would strike even the most devout KKK member as amusing. Yet, here we have an entire studio audience, as well, presumably, as an entire viewing public, rolling in the aisles in hysterics. We are even told that the critics have taken the show to heart. We don't buy it for a second. Perhaps, if Lee had chosen a more contemporary assortment of black clichés and stereotypes to lampoon (as he does in those commercials we see), the film would have had more point and purpose. Lee does hit on some interesting periphery issues along the way, such as the absurdity of having black-oriented shows put together almost exclusively by white writers and producers. The film also exposes the paradox inherent in the fact that even the most radical anti-establishment elements and images of the hip-hop, gangster rap culture are not impervious to exploitation from the likes of Madison Avenue. In other words, young people, teens in particular, are bamboozled into supporting with their money the very elements of corporate America they are supposed to be protesting against. Let's face it: when your ideals become fodder for yet another sitcom, you know the cause is lost. (This theme was explored much more fully and brilliantly, however, in James Toback's far more gripping film, "Black and White"). "Bamboozled" really hits the skids in its closing section. Painful as the black face skits are to watch - more for their ineptness than for any sense of moral outrage - the real pain comes in the final scenes in which Lee loses his satirical nerve and makes a bid for high tragedy. The characters, suddenly hit by a fit of conscience, go through a lot of introspective soul-searching about "selling out" and all that, looking droopily at the camera as portentous music drones on the soundtrack. Particularly offensive is the film's misguided attempt to turn itself into a modern day bloody "Network," the sheer heavy-handedness of which is simply appalling. Then, after all this mess, Lee tacks on a brilliant coda which shows us just how thoroughly black face permeated our culture and entertainment in the early part of this century, assembling an assortment of film clips not merely from Amos 'n Andy shorts but from such respectable cultural touchstones as Andy Rooney/Judy Garland, Bing Crosby and Shirley Temple films. (In the ultimate irony, Lee is forced by copyright laws to pay homage to each and every one of these clips in the closing credits). Thus, as a historical document, "Bamboozled," I guess, has some validity. But is it really relevant to today? Perhaps, but certainly not in the modern context in which Spike Lee has put it. By concentrating on the realities of the modern world, Robert Townsend covered all this ground a lot more entertainingly in "Hollywood Shuffle."
Rating: 
Summary: Very potent
Review: One of the best things I like about Spike Lee is his uncanny ability to scare the s--t out of middle class white liberals, or to put it more bluntly reveal the more inverted and destructive racist tendencies of middle of the road America. One criticism of this movie was that it lacked subtlty, which I don't believe is a valid assessment. First of all subtlty has never been a component in any of Lee's work, which is neither a negative or positive quality. This film is fueled by anger and pain which iswhy Lee chooses to convey them in broad and melodramatic strokes. second of all the message of this movie is so dramatic in scope about the people who live in this country that i believe subtlty was simply out of the question. I have have found Most of the reviews of this movie to be all negative in some way or another, whether it was one that merely slammed the film or just misunderstood and patronized it all together. whith that said I must also give credit to the magnificent photography and Damon Wayan's very bold, if slightly mannered,performance I don't believe I have seen another one like it.
Rating:
Summary: A Very Meaningful Film
Review: Spike Lee's Bamboozled is one of the more meaningful films of the year. It combines great performances by Damon Wayans, Savion Glover, and Jada Pinkett Smith, some humorous moments, and the movie itself is meaningful because it's not afraid to say that racism still exists. This is also a great DVD. New Line's Platinum Series DVDs are always packed with special features. The features on this DVD will take you behind the ideas of this film. For an important, somewhat humorous experience, Bamboozled is a good movie to see.
Rating: 
Summary: Why Spike....Why?
Review: One thing that Spike loves to do, is get his message across. But what he doesn't seem to understand is that is MUCH better to let people figure out the message, instead of beating us over the head with it, which this constantly does through its entirety. The Tommy Hilfiger skit was good, but a little overdone and tacky. The ending was just completely horrible, and just seems like Spike really couldn't think of a good way to end the film. And of course there is Spike Lee traditions of having characters riding on a trolley when they are supposed to be walking. Come on Spike! This was innovative when your first did, but now it's just OLD!!!! STOP!!!
Rating:
Summary: The ending wasn't quite right
Review: Very interesting, very different but it seemed like Spike Lee didn't entirely know how to end it. I would have like to have seen the two main characters forced to live up to the consequences of their actions rather than their having final fate have been so final.
Rating:
Summary: I would rather go to the dentist than watch this EVER again.
Review: This is the worst Spike Lee movie I've ever seen.. in fact, it is one of the worst MOVIES I've ever seen. That's saying a lot, because I usually like Spike Lee and I have seen a lot of movies. He almost had me. I could get over Damon Wayne's terrible acting, but I simply cannot get over the end of the movie. It was incredibly self-indulgent and absolutely over-dramatised. I got the message... because it was bashed into my head about a million times. By the end of the movie, I felt like I had been bamboozled into sitting for that long!
Rating:
Summary: Eyes Wide Open
Review: Spike Lee brings forth yet another thought provoking and emotionally stirring "movie" that ultimately illustrated two themes: the way the media in all forms has exploited African-American culture and an underlying theme of alcoholism and how the media targets young African-Americans through propaganda to ride the wave of alcohol addiction. Bamboozled left me speechless and ready to take further action aganst stereotypes that the media--and unfortunately many African-Americans--has perpetrated against my people. It was a stroke of genius that Spike used two well-known comedians who had participated in such modern day minstrel shows (Damon Wayans and Tommy Davidson) to illustrate the point of his movie. The one person in the movie who was integral to making folks wake up was Jada Pinkett-Smith, who gave each character gifts that would hopefully open their eyes up to their self-inflicted blindness. Bamboozled truly made me think (as most Spike Lee movies do). It further justified the reason I refuse to buy into the gold tooth rockin'-women disrespecting-stereotype glamorizing media that has attacked the African-American community and has further spread like a virus as a result of the consumer habits of the United States.
Rating:
Summary: Raw Truth from Spike Lee
Review: Before you see this, it's important to remember that Spike Lee is an unapologetic Black Nationalist who makes unapologetic Black Nationalistic films. Period. With that said, he takes the Black Nationalistic view of Blacks on modern television, which is that it has not advnced as muhc as many would like to believe. Most of the other scenes have been discussed by the other posters, but I particularly liked the Mau-maus because before rap degenerated into gangsterism, you had a lot of ignorant rappers who called themselves "teachers" misleading the youth like the blind leading the blind. The Mau Maus, as they drunkenly and ridiculously pontificate on social issues, remind me a lot of this. To quote Jada Pinkett-Smith in her dialogue with them in this movie-"Y'ALL IGN'ANT!" This aside, there are some really deep moments showing how dehumanizing forms of entertainment tends to dehumanize all who partiucipate in them. For example, when Damon Wayans fires Saivon Glover for refusing to wear Blackface and throws him out of the studio. Says a lot. I also applaud Spike for having the perspective to show the similarity between the minstrel show and modern rap videos (such as "The Bomb" malt liquor). I recently showed my students in my African-American history class this film and an episode of "Amos and Andy" from 1950. The discusssion we had afterward shows that they understood. I strongly recommend that you watch this with a group of friends and hold a discussion session afterwards. A Thinking Man (and Woman's) movie.
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