Amazon.com essential video: With Mo' Better Blues, the story of a young trumpeter's rise to jazz-world stardom, Spike Lee set out to counter Clint Eastwood's cliché-ridden biopic of Charlie Parker in Bird. But the final product, a slick, glossy drama (with hip-hop jazz provided by Gangstarr no less), is just as superficial as the numerous Alger-esque stories of music stardom to which movie audiences are accustomed.
Denzel Washington gives a typically charismatic performance as the trumpeter in question, as does Wesley Snipes as his sax-playing rival. And as with most Spike Lee films, there are numerous solid performers in small roles such as Bill Nunn, Latin-music star Rubén Blades, and comedian Robin Harris. One character, however, attracted unwanted attention: John Turturro's role as an unscrupulous music-industry exec. Critics called the Turturro character, who is at once money hungry, swarthy, and perpetually shrouded in darkness, a classic anti-Semitic caricature. But the charge seems almost irrelevant in Spike Lee's cartoonish, overstylized world of impossibly hunky jazzmen, curvaceous hangers-on, and incessant bebop. --Ethan Brown
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Bleek House
Bleek Gilliam (Denzel Washington) plays trumpet and leads his own jazz band. Giant (Spike Lee), his manager, doesn't do such a great job, and he has a gambling problem, but they have been friends since childhood. Shadow Henderson (Wesley Snipes) plays soprano and tenor saxophone. He has also known Bleek since childhood, but they are more like rivals then friends--rivals over women and music. Bleek is the bandleader, but Shadow is shadowing him, scheming to start his own band with one of Bleek's women. Left Hand Lacey (Giancarlo Esposito) plays piano, but nobody can stand his French girlfriend. ... Read More
Rating: - Spike should have made a "Mo better movie"
In the midst of the recent Eastwood-Lee controversy, I feel that I should submit this review. When Eastwood's "Bird" came out, Lee disparaged Clint because of the fact he was White and had no business doing a film on a prominent Black musician. Of course this was a ploy by Spike to promote this film which promptly alienated me from ever watching a Spike Lee movie in its entirety. Along with "Jungle Fever", this has to be one of Lee's worst movies. For instance, in one nightclub scene, all we see are mostly Blacks in the club but I know for a fact that most of the clients there are mixed, Black, ... Read More
Rating: - mo better blues
I got the DVD's in a timely fashion but this DVD only plays on my laptop. I'm disapointed because it's one of my favorites and I was really looking forward to watching it on my big screen TV...
Rating: - Ok Spike Lee Film
This movie is only Ok in my book. It has great production values, spirited performances and striking actors. The trouble is the story isn't one that I come to care about. The characters seem to be acting in their own space and rarely interact with each other. It's hard to know whether Denzel Washington's character loves either of his women but you know who he is going to stay with because that woman is played by Spike Lee's sister. The film in many ways is typical Spike Lee - long, takes place in New York City, etc. This time the variety of characters just don't jell as one whole movie. It happens ... Read More
Rating: - Toning It Down After The Great "Do The Right Thing"
With Lee's first three films, it is obvious that this man has a passion for music. With his fourth film, "Mo' Better Blues", Lee takes on this passion fully and it is a treat for us viewers and lovers of Jazz. Interestingly, this is a film about passion, that is the life of a passionate person. Like many prolific scholars, artists, and writers Denzel Washington's character, Bleek, makes everything secondary to his music. He is self-absorbed using two woman, both of whom he seems to love, only when HE needs them. Anyone out there who has experienced a person like Bleek, whose every move revolves around his ... Read More
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