Dear White People (2014)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

This is a movie I thought I would love, but fell flat on comedy and purpose. The film centers on black students at a fictional Ivy League college. There is a Vlog called "Dear White People" which tells white people what black people think...as if they care. One of the funnier lines was that you now need two black friends to not be a racist and Tyrone who sells you weed doesn't count. Yup. That was a real knee slapper.Sam White (Tessa Thompson) is a bi-racial student, they actually used the word "mulatto" horrors! She has race identity issues and must over compensate. While the college wants to integrate students, she wants to maintain a black house to maintain black culture. She hates Tyrone Perry movies that stereo-type black people. And white people who use the term African-American instead of black so they don't seem racist are racist.The characters and plot really didn't evolve that well. The black face "riot" that occurred was a let down and the message was confused. Perhaps the confused message is that race relations is stalled at crossroads, pulling in a number of directions.The best part of the film was the silent movie shown within the film. Most of the drama of the film I found artificial and boring. "Black or White" or even "Supremacy" are better and more realistic films about race relations.Guide: F-bomb, N-word, implied sex.

This is not a perfect film but it is entertaining and interesting. But more importantly it is very necessary considering everything going on today plus I didn't even know some on the college campuses were actually hosting racist-a## parties like that. But anyway, the film has an excellent concept behind it but it is poorly executed. However, like I said before this is such an important topic and you do not see Hollywood doing anything about it until someone twists their arm. Long story short, a better director would have done a lot more with the material.

I'm Caucasian American and not at all racial toward someone for their skin color. I resent the generalization of this title. Just because I'm 'white' doesn't mean I'm racial. I was raised 'red, yellow, black or white; they are precious in his sight'. Truthfully, it makes me want to end my relationship with Netflix. I feel sick to my stomach that the line has been so blatantly drawn without even watching the series. Signed, Disappointed

'Dear White People' is a film that is probably hindered from the start by the enormous weight on it's shoulders; it wants to address the severe racial tensions in the US while also instigating a resurgence of African American independent filmmaking to overpower the trend of low-brow, unimportant exploitation comedies. The film fails to fulfill either of these aims. From the very start of the film, propelled by Tessa Thompson's incendiary (but not in the fun, edgy way it wants to be) 'dear white people' one-liners from which the film's title derives, a mean- spirited attitude is adopted that, despite being introduced as a satire, never has a punchline. The dialogue feels more like practiced zingers that the writer/director wrote in the back of his notebook in college than naturalistic discourse of disgruntled youth, and the characterization, despite desperately trying to engage the audience in drawn out, repetitive sequences, is minimized to the very stereotypes that the film tries to conquer (one character who counter- intuitively emulates the separatism of Malcolm X is directly addressed as being a wannabe). That's not to say that the film has no positive aspects. Tyler James Williams portrays the character of Lionel with deft subtlety, and has a standout moment in the film's denouement that is likely the most memorable image two days after seeing it. Furthermore, the confrontation between Troy and his father by a poolside sees Dennis Haysburt give a excruciatingly real performance that is drenched with a pained past of subjugation. The sentiment of not giving people the satisfaction of living up to their stereotypes resonated with me significantly.Tessa Thompson also shows a degree of range that would culminate in her far superior performance in Creed. However, this range is treated with such jarring carelessness that her third-act character arc appears to emerge from nowhere, leaving us as dumbfounded as her cohorts when she refuses to take on the leadership role she has clamored for the entire first hour.The film attempts to appeal to a community of people that have dealt with oppression for centuries and still face resistance from the white community when the conversation about racism is brought to the table. It is more than understandable that these issues should be brought to light, as the shocking images during the end credits of the film make clear, and the film is at its best when it teases the obvious hypocrisy that exists in white sensationalizing of black culture when the reality is so bleak for so many. However, it manages only to rub more salt in the wound by demonizing the very people it tries to communicate with (the satire here is treated so poorly it becomes venomous), and the laughs are so few and far between in the slogging narrative that the film becomes more negatively charged than it intends to be. Perhaps in the hands of a more experienced and visionary filmmaker, this film could be elevated into political and social relevance to the same extent of Spike Lee's early works (which the film is begging for you to associate it with), however as it stands, this film will probably fade into obscurity as another misstep in the pursuit of a meaningful discourse and a more representative Hollywood.