Black and White (1999)

How sad is this?

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

This movie is a sketch on a napkin, a Kodak photograph of a counter- culture going mainstream, going pop culture. In spite of all the loose ends and the technical laziness, i thought the movie had some good elements, like the cast or the improvisation. But the main value of the movie is the report that Toback makes about what was happening, and how this phenomenon came to exist, through a vast range of characters. From the DA psycho son that don't understand what is it all about, to the childish film maker and his homosexual boyfriend, not forgetting the bitch anthropologist and the rich bower character with his crew of pirate street kids.There are a couple of scenes that reflect America in someway, how business and violence are so intertwined and also the misconception that if you have the money you can be anything you want (studio scene). Rich Bower and his close friend Cigar Eco's on what America was built on, grabbing the opportunity by any means necessary, and transcend the conditions where you came from. Specially Rich, he is the "noddles" character (Once Upon A Time in America) in a different time from a different culture, but the same guy.It's all about getting up, don't be afraid.

I just don't understand how some people can comment on this film saying that it had little structure yet can comment about Independance Day being good!!!! This film is realistic and quite humerous. It doesn't depict Blacks as wanting a quick lay and it doesn't potray White as trying to be bling!!It just depicts the characters we see do what they want to do... And besides, if you hated the film so much, you should have turned it off. The fact the very vast majority did not suggests you are not at all being honest in your opinions of this film.Get a life people and carry on watching your Hollywood Superflicks!!My verdict: 7/10

I rented this movie because I am a big fan of Elijah Wood. And I must say I was disappointed. Wood was probably the only positive thing about this movie. The plot was disconnected and hard to follow, the characters were boring, and the movie overall was a bomb. And Brooke Shields, trying to act like she was interested in hip-hop? Ow. That one in itself was hard to wrap my brain around.What was the point of this movie?Spoiler: Watching Shields and Wood make out during the end credits was about as awkward as you could possibly imagine. They didn't fit. It was one of the most forced-looking movie kisses I have ever seen.

A group of white kids become the focus of a pair of documentary film makers looking at the phenomenon of the `wigger' - white kids adopting the mannerisms and culture of the black, hip-hop community. Meanwhile gangsters-come-rappers Rich Bower and Cigar have to face up to the opening of a white club in their neighbourhood. Also college basketball player Dean is set up for throwing a game and forced to provide evidence to the cops on Bower.If my plot summary sounds like it's confused or unclear, there's a good reason for that; it's because the film itself is very much spinning all over the place with a whole lot of strands. It is apparent that the film is trying to make a bigger point about culture, identity and race relations in the US but the frustrating thing is that it just doesn't manage to do it. It has plenty of interest moments and plenty of interesting characters that say a lot, but it never manages to come together in anything that is either thought provoking or satisfying.I had hoped that the film would pull all it's threads together to deliver a point but it didn't. The stories themselves are quite interesting on the whole, but it is evident that this is not what the film was after. Hence we don't get a conclusion, we get an unclear `6 months later' finale that even just plays over the end credits - that's how little the stories actually meant. OK, so that leaves us with the commentary concept of this film - that it's not just about the actions, it's about the wider issues. If that is the case, the film still flounders a bit because it was not clear to me what point it was trying to make beyond the `white kids like black culture', `black people don't like white people stealing their culture' etc etc stuff that shouldn't have taken 100 minutes to make!Despite these comments, I did enjoy watching the film. The semi-improvised nature of the film makes for an enjoyable experience and for scenes with flowing, quite natural dialogue. The downside of that is that many of the cast mistake mumbling in ebonics for interesting dialogue. The cast is still impressive despite the fact that many of them have nothing really to do. The main players don't impress that much - Downey and Shields are pretty poor, mainly because their characters are pointless. The various white kids just slum it in wigger roles that would be funny if they weren't so accurate. The cameos and roles for rappers are actually quite good - but most of them are just playing the gangster roles that they play everyday in their music. Raekwon and Power from Wu Tang were both pretty good but he film benefits mostly from the sheer number of faces rather than the quality. Houston, Tyson, Pantoliano, Stiller, Method Man, Ratner and various other rappers all add interest.Overall this film is entertaining in it's freewheeling manner but it is hard to ignore the fact that it doesn't achieve anything. The stories don't really go anywhere and the points about race and cultural identity get muddled and lost in the mix. It has potential and it is definitely interesting, but it is badly flawed.