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Black, Harvard-educated television writer Pierre Delacroix (Wayans) is charged with rescuing the floundering ratings of the upstart network where he works. Delacroix - whose commitment to his race is questioned at every turn by his culture-vulture boss Dunwitty (Rapaport) - decides to present the most outrageous, unbelievably stereotypical comedy he can imagine: a revival of the culturally outlawed minstrel show format. Commandeering the talents of two struggling dancers, Manray (Glover) and Womack (Davidson) and despite the protestations of Delacroix's assistant (Pinkett), 'ManTan: The New Millennium Minstrel Show' is a runaway success - and the start of Delacroix's undoing.
Spike Lee's film is certainly a fascinating premise. A satire of network television's pitfalls and prejudices, a peek into the way blacks have been represented historically in the media, and the ways in which they have sought to redress the cultural balance (there's a neat look at an extremist hip-hop collective) - it's certainly the nucleus for a meaty and much needed discourse.
There's no questioning the strength of Lee's polemic nor the social and political observations that "Bamboozled" offers, yet as a piece of film-making it is undeniably flawed. Never the most subtle of directors, here Lee's arguments are dwarfed by a heavy-handed suffusion of visual pyrotechnics and sensory overload. The mix of comedy and hard-hitting outrage sits uneasily, and two-dimensional characters and performances (Wayans and Rapaport spring to mind, though Pinkett delivers a rigorous integrity) are further impediments as the film increases in hysteria.
"Bamboozled" 's most effective moments come in Delacroix surrounding himself with racist trinkets, and the compilation of clips featuring black characters from the past that closes the film. These indicate the importance of the film's content and suggest that perhaps a documentary would be better for the subject.
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