Rating: 
Summary: A genius musician battles his inner demons.
Review: This is a masterpeice. Bleek Gilliam is a talented musician and the leader of the Bleek Gilliam quartet, a famed jazz band in New York. Bleek has a problem. He has three loves in his life. He is forced to choose between his two worshipful lovers - Indigo and Clarke, and his true baby - his music. Further complicating his life are his lifelong freind and mooch - Giant, and his bandmate, Shadow. Giant is in and out of trouble, and Shadow longs to move out of Bleeks shadow to form his own band.This is a visually stimulating film. Spike Lee's uses of colors and lighting creates a mood that is essentially Jazz. The ambiente atmosphere of the film is highlighted by outstanding music composed by Branford Marsalis. Mo-Better blues is an urban tale that will strike at the heart of all. Those who are new to Spike Lee's brand of photography are in for a treat. Also be sure to check out other Lee classics Do the Right Thing, Jungle Fever, Crooklyn, and He Got Game.
Rating:
Summary: A fantastic film.
Review: This is an extraordinary moive. Bleek Gilliam fantasy world begins to crumble when the pressure comes down on him through his love life and his jazz career. Just by listening to the soundtrack you can feel the complexity of Gilliams world. The intense mixture of jazz, blues, hip hop and even poetry sets the mood of inner struggles throughout the moive. When Gilliam hits rock bottom and cannot play the trumpet no more, he goes through a period of depression and a upseting finale of a failed guest appearance with his rival and friend Shawdow. Thereafter the renewal takes place, he finds out what love and life really means. He gets down on bended knee, confesses his love and mistakes to Indigo. And yes Indigo being the more devoted woman of his two timing affair, sees a manifested man and restores her faith in him. In return of their faith and commiment they are blessed with a child, and Bleek Gilliam life begins. This moive may seem like its a story about a man that got caught in the "act", but there's more than meets the eye.
Rating: 
Summary: A Somewhat Decent Spike Lee Picture
Review: This is finally a Spike Lee movie, besides Malcolm X, that actually makes sense - somewhat. If you are into movies that have great jazz, this is it. However, I couldn't really stay with the story because Spike Lee spent more time on style and symbolism than actually substance, like many of his other movies. At times it seemed like Denzel Washington's and Wesley Snipes' talents were being wasted in poorly developed scenes. Nonetheless, the jazz in this movie is stimulating, and Bradford Marsalies is great.
Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful
Review: This is one of the most visually beautiful film with African-American actors I've ever seen (another that comes to mind is Devil in a Blue Dress, also starring Denzel Washington). The opening credits are a masterful combination of music and shadows.
Overall, an enjoyable contemporary story of young, single African-Americans filmed in Brooklyn and Manhattan, a rarity for its time. They're making more of this type of film today . . . but the actors are getting younger and younger!
Rating: 
Summary: Mo' Crap
Review: This is the worst film I've ever seen. Spike Lee has made some okay movies, I don't think he's made one which doesn't have flaws, but this one, to me, was unwatchable, I don't understand what the other reviewers are talking about.
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Summary: Denzel and Wesley makes a woman beg for mo'
Review: This movie by Spike Lee demonstrates why he is one of the leading directors of ethnic movies today. His combination of Denzel Washington and Wesley Snipes was a treat for females of all ages. The chemistry they exuded was magical. This film had some of the film industry's best saxophone playing ever. The music was electrying and hypnotizing. The story was very moving and realistic as it follows the rise and fall of a musician and the people that come into his life when he's at the top and when he hits the bottom. An adult movie that will stay with you long after the movie ends.
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Summary: If you are a jazz or Denzel Washington lover, this is it.
Review: This movie is not for people looking for a great movie on jazz or romance but it is a highly stylized depiction of jazz today. There really are young musicians trying to bring jazz back into the public conscious, but alas, more people would rather hear "Achy, Breaky Heart". It definitely shows Denzel at his finest (not necessarily in acting). The costumes are great and Washington's song "L-O-V-E" is worth seeing the movie. The part about the movie that caused my to argue with my then boyfriend was that it seemed like after Washington was used up, then he offered himself to Indigo-- and she willingly took him back. Of course, he saw it as the fact the Indigo was the more devoted of the two of his women. Whatever! Be prepared to be stunned by the set, outfits, and music.
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Summary: Why not on DVD?
Review: This was one of Spikes most precious works. He encompassed the true jazz enthusiast with his radical message for equality. I cannot wait to hear the sharp jazz pieces that this movie could provide on a DVD.
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Summary: It's a Jazz Thing
Review: When you finally find a tick for jazz in your soul you appreciate everything about it. It isn't always pretty, it isn't always cool, but it is always jazz. This DVD offers an enhanced version of a film that personifies jazz. Denzel Washington convinces the viewer that he is actually playing trumpet. This is not necessarily true of the other actors throughout the movie. While the acting can be slightly forced, a few concepts pulled to the extreme of real-life, the idea of an artist and his struggles rings painfully true. After all this is just a movie. We all have our demons, hidden and obvious, and can understand that when it matters you find your own definition within yourself. In this movie the definer is jazz.
Rating:
Summary: So much to feel, so much to enjoy
Review: You don't have to be a musician who has found himself grappling with the same fundamental spiritual issues as the main character (and similiar romantic dilemma) to enjoy this movie. MO BETER BLUES is one of my favorite feel good/life lesson movies because of the sheer nobility that underlies and underscores every nuance of character, plot, situation, and every note of the music. Denzel Washington as a self-absorbed, brilliant trumpeter and band leader, discovering the fragility of his life and the unrealized strength of his heart; Wesley Snipes as his ambitious, equally brilliant- and equally alpha male- saxophonist who, though on the surface a seemingly ungrateful rival ready to break and emerge with his own band, loves him more than he loves himself; Turturro as the fundamentally disinetersted producer, an archtype of the music business; two women- one who loves the music more than him, the other him more than the music; a score by Spike's father, musician and composer Bill Lee; performances by terrance Blanchard and Branford Marsalis... deft screenwriting by Spike- in one of the few movies he's made where his presence as a character doesn't take away from the ensemble product... what's not to like in this beautiful film? If you are not a jazz fan, trust me, you will become one after seeing this. A feel good movie that does not let you down; MO BETTER is, "Mo' better".
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