I had a rather long rant I wanted to post yesterday but didn't get around to posting.

I watched two movies that had sort of similar subject matter, yet were so completely different in quality and style that I figure I have to say something... or that something will not be said!

Ok... here goes...

I watched Bringing Down The House yesterday, along with Head of State shortly thereafter. Both movies about black people involved in the 'white' world... yet one was incredibly witty and fun to watch while the other was like a train wreck. (Can you guess which one I liked? It'd be the one with the linky.)

Bringing Down The House was arguably one of the most offensive, unfunny pieces of video (sorry, I didn't rent the DVD) that I've been subjected to. Actually, it's not even offensive in that kind of funny, we-know-we're-nasty, South Park-style offensive. It was offensive yet schmaltzy. It was like someone with very bad comedy skills and some kind of burning rage against any and all minorities decided to make a movie, yet didn't want to actually come out and REALLY offend anyone. They'd have some kind of slave joke, then do something kind of preachy... it was just dumb.

At least they did have the Queen Latifah character actually not be a caricature of the black community. She was the only 'real' character in that mess. The rest were barely tolerable, especially Eugene Levy's role... shudder...

There is a really funny fight scene in the ladies' washroom though. That was the only part of the movie actually worth sitting through.

But it's not that the movie was really that bad. It had a lot of different movies (schmaltzy romantic comedy turns into wierd slapstick turns into crime drama turns into offensive racial slur fest...) all rolled into one. That kept it alternately interesting yet very unfocused. Plus it wasn't so horribly bad that I can say 'Go see it to see how horribly bad it is.' When it comes down to it, it's just incredibly mediocre.

It scares me that someone actually got paid to say, "Funniest Movie Of The Year"... and scarier that others actually feel that way about it...

On the flip side, Head of State was very good.. not Oscar worthy or anything, but as a politcal satire, I liked it a bunch. The best part was that they really didn't play the race card ('OH MY GOD! IT'S A BLACK MAN RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT!!!') until right near the end of the movie and even there it was more as a footnote, ("Oh, and you'll be the first African American president if you win") than a major plot point. I felt that the movie was more about the differences in the ideology of the political parties and the difference in the ideology of the common voter vs. those caught in the system than it was a racial movie.

The best part was near the end. There's the one candidate who spend the whole movie saying, "God Bless America, and nobody else." I was just kind of ticked at that line, but didn't figure there would really be much made out of it. But then Chris Rock's character just tears apart that attitude and several others near the end in a great little shpiel that I thoroughly enjoyed.

So there you go. I recommend Head of State, but warn you to stay away from Bringing Down The House. Go rent Bullworth if you want quality race relation satire.

Not a bad little rant concidering I reel like fap.. creap cahl...............dd/