Rating: 
Summary: In both senses, a black comedy
Review: After the terrors of "Summer of Sam", Spike Lee has come up with "Bamboozled", in which he roasts TV and the way it exploits the black population. Unhappy with his situation at a television network, Pierre knows he can be sued if he quits, thus breaking his contract, so he figures out a fail-safe solution: he'll get himself fired by producing a show so outrageously offensive it will cause a racial backlash. (It's a variation of "The Producers"; even the initial audience reaction is similar.) Pierre is a re-invented man: he wears expensive suits and greets us with "Bonjour", but about half-way through the movie we learn his name is really Peerless and his father is a second-level night club comic. Pierre is very sensitive to racial issues, and so he's convinced his proposed showcase will be a shocking failure: a minstrel show for the new millennium. Two Afro-American street performers are re-named Man-Tan and Sleep 'n' Eat and put into situations (in a watermelon patch, no less) displaying how lazy and untrustworthy Negroes are -- but, hey, great tap dancers! The two are even required to wear black face. (I assume the N word cannot be used in Amazon.com, but it's used ad nauseam in this screenplay.)To Pierre's consternation, the show is a big hit; and he is faced with the dilemma of denying his principles to court success. In fact, he has fantasies of winning everything except a Nobel Prize. One of Spike Lee's strongest points as a writer-director is providing flashy roles for capable actors. I was appalled that Samuel L Jackson's performance in "Jungle Fever" was ignored by the Academy. In "Bamboozled" Lee has provided several such oppportunities, though nothing as showy as Jackson's. At first viewing, Damon Wayans may seem a little excessive with Pierre's affectations, but look again. Paul Mooney is compelling as his father, an entertainer who realizes he's gone as far as he's going to go. Savion Glover, Tommy Davidson, Michael Rapaport, and Jada Pinkett-Smith are all good in their different roles. (Al Sharpton and Johnnie Cochran play themselves, and one can't help but wonder: did they realize they were satirized?) The big flaw in "Bamboozled", the reason I can't give it four stars, is the violence with which Lee has chosen to end his dark comedy. I think it would have been much more powerful to circumvent the deaths and have the characters, chastised, watching the devastating montage which closes the picture: the humiliations, the buffooneries, the relentless yassuh yassuh yassuh that degraded black people for generations. It's the death of the spirit that is the revelation in Spike Lee's screenplay,and he weakens that message with physical destruction.
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent satire on white corporate media
Review: Spike Lee's Bamboozled makes for uncomfortable viewing for those who seek to justify negative portrayals of black people in the modern media. Not only condemning those white people who appropriate black culture and seek to 'speak' on behalf of black people, he also confronts the difficult issues of stereotypes that black people themselves find attractive or 'real'. Indeed, the mantra of the wigger Dunwitty (head of the CNS network) is that of many black artists themselves, insisting that he's "Keeping it real" when confronted with accusations of racism in his New Millennium Minstrel Show.
As a teacher of Media and Film, this text is excellent when approaching issues of race, representation, and the media as it illustrates concepts such as institution, control, hegemony and power (particularly of representation!) - the Timmi Hilnigger adverts on the DVD really struck a chord with my students!Although not a believable conceit, the film has power in the characterizations and how they tackle the difficult issues and themes facing real black actors, black audiences and black people working in the media (and the racism they face!) Forget Chris Tucker, Eddie Murphy, Queen Latifah and Will Smith, get some Spike into yer veins!
Rating:
Summary: Whoa
Review: I will not elaborate too much. This film had great camera work. I am a fan of hand held filming because its a lost art form. It is a very imortant movie to watch. I notice the negative feedbacks but I feel that is only a product of the shock and emotion that this movie provokes. Perhaps its the guilt of finding pleasure in the popular forms of black entertainment today that Spike Lee is so strongly against. So i will stress again please do see this film it is one of Spike Lee's better films.
Rating:
Summary: good concept, but heavy-handed execution
Review: Spike Lee's Bamboozled has a powerful premise: a Harvard-educated African-American television executive named Pierre Delacroix (Damon Wayans), frustrated at his inability to get serious projects about African-Americans placed on television, pitches the ridiculous concept of a revived minstrel show to his white bosses. Thing is, his idea backfires because the bosses LOVE the idea. So does the audience. It becomes clear that Delacroix has underestimated the latent racism and bad taste of the American public. If this satirical premise sounds familiar, it's because it builds on one of the best comedies of all time: The Producers, Mel Brooks' first big hit. Remember that film? The producers tried to make a flop by staging a ridiculously grotesque musical called Springtime for Hitler, but the audience loved it. But whereas The Producers was fairly light-hearted all the way through, the last third of so of Bamboozled turns way too heavy and ultimately pummels the viewer with a point that's already been made, again and again. Spike Lee seems to think his film deserves a kidnapping and mass murder to make its point, which I think is a huge mistake. Not to say Bamboozled had to be just funny all the way through. Good satire hurts even while you're laughing. And there are some truly inspired, thought-provoking moments in this movie. Watching the African-American actors struggle with their consciences while donning the blackface; seeing how white individuals struggle to relate to black people, without full awareness of either their own inherent racism or the social structures that reinforce it: these things are great, and Spike Lee portrays them better than anyone else could. I also liked the montage of blackface scenes from traditional American movies at the end, that shows better than anything the disrespect African Americans faced until recently. But the minstrel show itself is neither funny nor particularly revealing, and the violent subplot doesn't really belong in the film at all. Spike Lee would have done better, I think, to shorten the film and leave out the gang-related subplot.
Rating: 
Summary: Desperate
Review: Fifty years from now, movie and social historians might study this film as a time capsule of race psychopathia in the 21st century. When this movie came out, Spike Lee gleefully bragged on cable television how he wanted to "lay it on the line" about race relations in America. What he should have said is that "I'm gonna make a movie where all the whites are stereotypical bigots, slobs and monsters. All the blacks will be portrayed as helpless victims who have no wills of thier own." The only thing missing from the white characters are Ku Klux Klan signs around their necks. While Lee spends his time attacking what he perceives to be inherent racism in caucasians, he says nothing about his own obvious tendency of racially profiling the hated ethnic group. No wonder this movie bombed big-time in America. What movie goer wants to be labeled a racist monster just because their skin isn't the right hue for Spike Lee?
Rating:
Summary: A biting satirical film that will make you squirm
Review: Spike Lee has done it again -- written and directed a biting satirical film on the subject of race that makes the audience squirm. He's always been able to do this, and this film pushes the envelope further than he's ever done before. Damon Wayans stars as a African-American Harvard-educated television writer who is "bamboozled" by his white employer into writing a minstrel show television series using black people wearing blackface and including humiliating racial [preconceptions]. Jana Pinkett Smith is cast in the role of his assistant who tries to bring a sense of reality into what is going on. Both are excellent actors. But the movie really belongs to Savion Glover, the young tap dancer who made a name for himself with "Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk". I've always known he was a great dancer, but this film brings out the range of his acting ability. Cast in the role of the as the star of the TV series, Mr. Glover has the ability to show his inner conflicts by just the set of his face or the look in his eyes. Against this story line, Mr. Lee has chosen to also give the audience a history lesson by his use of wind-up toys and other artifacts from the dark period of minstrel show history. The artifacts clutter Damon Wayans' desk and there are many camera close-ups of these relics from a bygone era. There is also a lot of vintage film clips from old movies, TV shows and cartoons which depict the demeaning [standards] that was always taken for granted. When all of this is put together, there is a sense of outrage at the unfairness of it all. As the film goes on, the jokes start to wear thin. And the actors start to have misgivings. It doesn't seem to be funny any more and it becomes more and more uncomfortable. And then, at just the right moment, a horrible act of violence escalates into horror and the sadness of the ultimate conclusion left me shaken. When the video was over I felt I had just experienced a small work of art that played with all my emotions. It also made me understand just how deep and humiliating the minstrel era was to African American people and just how far reaching this racism is. If you can stand the discomfort, do see this video. It will challenge your perceptions, make you think and bring an aspect of American culture to light that deserves to be looked at. I give this film my highest recommendation.
Rating: 
Summary: Minstrel Shows Aren't The Only Cliche
Review: .... Let's take as a given that some of [Spike Lee's] films are "heavy-handed". Anyone see Jungle Fever? Do The Right Thing? School Daze (oh, never mind...)? Anyone ever see or read a Spike Lee interview? He's an intense Brother who makes intense films, and true, subtlety isn't one of his strong suits. But you knew that going in. ... In Bamboozled, as in many of his other flicks, Spike rubs your face in the problem and challenges the viewer to action, if so inclined. This was "black comedy" in the more ways than one. Damon Wayans was an excellent choice to play the part of media corporate climber Delacroix, whose plan to stick it to The Man went cataclysmically awry. But I still believe Wayans' best work is before him. He's a talented actor who happens to be a comedian, and he just hasn't broken through the mold yet. As with many Spike Lee joints, this film either satirizes or condemns everything in sight. In Bamboozled, he sets his sights on "wiggers", rappers and the hip hop lifestyle, the WB, UPN and the television and movie industry in general. Robert Townsend addressed similar problems about a decade before in his film, "Hollywood Shuffle". It wasn't as "heavy-handed", and there weren't any "solutions" offered other than from his grandmother, who told him to eschew portraying racial stereotypes on film for money, because after all, "there's always work at the Post Office". Bamboozled, on the other hand, took no prisoners. From Scatman Crothers to Shirley Temple's dance routines to Farina and Stymie to Aunt Jemima to Fleishman's cartoons to "Good Times" to "In Living Color" (the reference to which was humorous in that both Wayans and the minstrel show side-kick, Tommy Davidson were cast members of that show) to "Martin" (a true minstrel show) to Jerry Springer. Tommy Davidson is deserving of more work. Bamboozled isn't too far from the truth. Martin Lawrence used to bug his eyes out and stick out his [behind] and show his teeth and it was a favored show in police departments throughout Ohio. Don't ask me how I know, but some of you might wanna be judicious in your application of the accelerator, if you know what I mean... This was a better movie than I thought it would be. I didn't buy Wayan's performance for a minute, but there's some really good acting from people you wouldn't expect. That's all I'm saying. Say what you want about the other Spike Lee joints. In this one, he was completely on point. And as with the rest, the solution is up to you.
Rating:
Summary: Some People Just Don't Get It
Review: I have to applaud Spike for making this film. People can argue if he is a racist or not, but on this film he showed how corporate America market their products to black inner city people. I for one used to work in a marketing department at a large corporation and this type of behavior went on all the time. So many times, I had to smile and walk away when I heard "you people" and "those people like stuff like that". What is worst is some black artists (namely rappers) help build on these negative stereotypes. They are NO different from the black actors of the 30s who was paid to demean their race. Instead of black people getting mad at Spike for making these films, I suggest you take your anger out on the real culprits and their marketing schemes. BTW, these culprits come in ALL RACES.
Rating:
Summary: What I really want is O Stars...
Review: In high school, I tried to convince our African American STudies teacher to plan a field trip to see this movie. He rebuffed me, and when I saw this movie on tape, I knew why. I am glad that I am not the only one who knows Spike Lee is a racist. And a slick one at that. He does these movies and black people go see them (I am black, so don't attack me). Do The Right Thing was horrible, Jungle Fever (he ought to be ashamed) all in the name of "eye-opening" filmmaking. Give me a break Bamboozled...I don't know what to say about this movie. Stereotypes, senseless violence, just downright shameful. There was no message here...except that, we, as black people, sometimes do it to ourselves (ex. Soul Plane? same problem). And helping this man, for the sake of a paycheck is deplorable. Please spare yourself of this film.
Rating:
Summary: The Sadness of Racism and Blackface
Review: _Bamboozled_, quite simply, achieves what it sets out to achieve. As I watched this film, I was made very uncomfortable (in fact, this point cannot be stressed enough). Spike Lee puts everything on the line, constructing a show around a desperate television writer who, in an attempt to lose his job, suggests that the network bring back a minstrel show. Unfortunately, the network and white America are all too ready to enjoy the stereotypes fed to them and the show becomes a huge success. The true shocker of the film is the realization that we are not far removed from the minstrel show (or, arguably, not removed at all). The most powerful sequence in the film for me is the section near the end where Lee has compiled a host of film and television sequences of African Americans "blacking up." This sequence, set to music, evokes emotions of sadness and disgust concerning racism like few films have before. This film is a great statement and provides a different type of argumentation. If you can't argue with the ideas of racism by promoting positive images, go for the realm of satire and shove the racism in our faces. By doing so, our own ideas and images become absurd and much more-they become sickening. One cannot watch this film with an attentive mind and not feel sickened by the end of it. I can only fault it on a few points. First, the film feels far too long and loses steam in the middle. Fortunately, the ending of the film is quite gripping and brings it back on track. Secondly, I was not particularly impressed with Wayans's performance and would have liked to have seen a stronger actor in the role. Savion Glover, on the other hand, is quite good and his dancing is explosive and dynamic-truly the greatest tap dancer living today. That being said, _Bamboozled_ is a film that will leave an impact on your imagination and deliver a lesson in U.S. history that will carry you forward into the present.
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