Bamboozled Details

Writer/director Spike Lee's latest contribution to the debate about race in the US is a dark, biting satire that is typically “in-your-face”. Damon Wayans plays the only black writer at a network TV station, a bright man who's dismayed at his employer's decision to dumb down in a bid to boost plunging ratings. He wants to quit, but station boss Michael Rapaport won't let him. So Wayans decides to get himself fired by creating a programme so controversial that the station won't touch it — an old-style minstrel show, with blacks portrayed as grinning idiots who dwell in watermelon patches. The plan backfires when Rapaport loves the idea, and the show draws huge audiences. There are excellent performances from Wayans and Rapaport, and, for the most part, deft handling from Lee, who manages to be both thought-provoking and amusing. Lee's criticism is directed not just at white audiences but also at prominent blacks who perpetuate damaging racial stereotypes. Sometimes, though, that outrage undermines the satire and leaves the viewer wondering whether laughter is the appropriate response to what is being shown. The running time exceeds the two hour mark with a beautifully edited, if overlong, montage of excerpts from old TV shows and films, illustrating the all-too-recent degrading portrayal of racial minorities as grotesque figures of fun. A shameful reminder indeed!

Ranked #8 in Entertainment Weekly's "Owen Gleiberman's BEST MOVIES OF 2000" -- ..."Giddy with outrage, Lee tears off the mask of propriety and stomps up and down on it..."