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SPOILERS - What do you get when you mix a simple story with marginal acting and sloppy editing? Yes, "The Blair Witch Project" fits that description, but so does "Black and White." Writer/director Toback tried an experiment and it did not work at all for me. The characters are not believable. The improvised dialog is mostly sophomoric. The profanity becomes such a background "noise" that any possible message gets lost. I dislike this film for all the reasons that critic Ebert gave it a favorable rating.
Many viewers simplistically said this was a film about white kids who want to act like they are black. No, it is about a hand-picked collection of amoral New Yorkers and how they live their corrupt lives. Having a friend agree to kill someone is handled like most of us would handle neutering of the family cat. The young white and black men and women are depicted as only valuing sex, drugs, rap, and intimidation. I can't imagine any group being flattered by the film. Nor can I imagine any group thinking this in any way depicts "normal" life.
Brooke Shields shows up with digital movie camera and gay husband Robert Downey the Druggie, to do a "documentary" on white kids who want to act like they are black. Both of their characters are absurd, especially Downey's. In fact, I thought Mike Tyson, playing himself, was the best actor in the film. I laughed out loud when Downey was describing his dream of Tyson, "I was holding you", and Tyson hauled off and slapped him smartly across the face. Ben Stiller as the detective was the least favorite role I've seen him in. Claudia Schiffer cannot act, and cannot fake an American accent.
I rate it "3" of 10, and might have been a decent film if the director had toned down the gratuitous sex and profanity. Pretty much a mess, in my opinion, a film with very little redeeming value.
score /10
TxMike 12 October 2001
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0576650/ |
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26-2-2020 01:53:07
