Bamboozled (2000)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:95
Fresh:45
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
| Tomatometer | Critic | Review | Category |
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 C |
Lee, in his least commercial film, shoots for controversy but loses focus. Full Review |
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Click to read the article Full Review |
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This is basically sloppy, all-over-the-map filmmaking with few hints of self-criticism and few genuine laughs. Full Review |
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 3/5 |
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. Full Review |
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2/5 |
A particularly painful mess, because it begins so well and has such promise. Full Review |
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If Mr. Lee meant to bring back blackface entertainment as a metaphor for the current black performers he finds obnoxious, he has miscalculated. Full Review |
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...where most of us in his audience will lean forward to hear a whisper, we turn away from a shout. Oh, how Bamboozled shouts. Full Review |
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Lee's satire on American TV is an intriguing failure. Full Review |
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4.5/5 |
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. Full Review |
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3/4 |
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. Full Review |
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2/4 |
He hammers his point home until the viewer is emotionally beaten into submission and manipulated into a consenting stance. Full Review |
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B |
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. Full Review |
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3/5 |
Extremely heavy-handed satire from director Spike Lee -- disturbing and thought-provoking but ultimately lacking a sense of focus. Full Review |
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2.5/4 |
A passionate movie bursting with ideas, but it's also a huge mess. Full Review |
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3.5/4 |
Spike Lee's back, with a vengeance. Full Review |
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F |
Empty-headed and unspeakably undisciplined… [the] question bears asking: Has Spike Lee -- the living, breathing antithesis of subtlety -- gone completely insane? Full Review |
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2.5/5 |
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. Full Review |
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2.5/4 |
At his best, Spike Lee is too brave to be subtle. Full Review |
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2.5/5 |
By relaxing and opening up his approach just a little he could have said much more. Full Review |
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68/100 |
Beyond the strong acting, there’s a lack of focus about the Delacroix character. Full Review |
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