Lee, in his least commercial film, shoots for controversy but loses focus.
Comment
06/08/09
Bamboozled (2000)
47 %
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 94
Fresh: 44
Rotten:50
Average Rating: 5.4/10
Consensus: Bamboozled is too heavy-handed in its satire and comes across as more messy and overwrought than biting.
Runtime: 2 hrs 18 mins
Genre: Television
US Box Office: $1,883,628
Synopsis: Spike Lee turns up the controversy notch once again with BAMBOOZLED, a sizzling satire on race and racism within the modern media world. Harvard-educated writer Pierre Delacroix (Damon Wayans), the... [More]
Starring: Damon Wayans, Savion Glover, Michael Rapaport, Tommy Davidson
Director: Spike Lee
Reviews for Bamboozled
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03/10/09
This is basically sloppy, all-over-the-map filmmaking with few hints of self-criticism and few genuine laughs.
09/23/08
Spike Lee’s shotgun attack on the treatment of blacks in television and the blurring of image and identity is a brilliant rant that digresses into repetitive sermonizing.
08/07/08
A particularly painful mess, because it begins so well and has such promise.
07/23/07
If Mr. Lee meant to bring back blackface entertainment as a metaphor for the current black performers he finds obnoxious, he has miscalculated.
04/27/07
...where most of us in his audience will lean forward to hear a whisper, we turn away from a shout. Oh, how Bamboozled shouts.
04/06/06
Lee's satire on American TV is an intriguing failure.
01/26/06
The director's new masterpiece is a summation of nearly everything he has learned as a filmmaker, and about black culture, but he doesn't feel the need to beat the audience over the head for each lesson he's trying to impart.
12/06/05
Lee's basing the movie in satire was a smart move because in it he can push the envelope harder than drama or straight comedy would have allowed.
01/21/04
He hammers his point home until the viewer is emotionally beaten into submission and manipulated into a consenting stance.
05/14/03
Spike Lee has made one of the few films in the year 2000 that is actually about something, and for that he deserves great credit.
01/10/03
Extremely heavy-handed satire from director Spike Lee -- disturbing and thought-provoking but ultimately lacking a sense of focus.
10/30/02
A passionate movie bursting with ideas, but it's also a huge mess.
10/11/02
Spike Lee's back, with a vengeance.
09/10/02
Empty-headed and unspeakably undisciplined… [the] question bears asking: Has Spike Lee -- the living, breathing antithesis of subtlety -- gone completely insane?
08/30/02
It is an inspired but difficult film that poses many questions and takes almost everyone to task, yet offers few suggestions as to what is to be done with this infamous legacy.
06/05/02
At his best, Spike Lee is too brave to be subtle.
03/19/02
By relaxing and opening up his approach just a little he could have said much more.
12/10/01
Beyond the strong acting, there’s a lack of focus about the Delacroix character.
07/19/01
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