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Black and White (1999)
Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins
Synopsis: With Black and White, writer-director James Toback (Fingers, Two Girls and a Guy) confronts the topic of race head on--most specifically, the influence of black urban hip-hop culture on white America. Set in New York City as the 1990s wind to a close, the film is told in a broad, episodic... With Black and White, writer-director James Toback (Fingers, Two Girls and a Guy) confronts the topic of race head on--most specifically, the influence of black urban hip-hop culture on white America. Set in New York City as the 1990s wind to a close, the film is told in a broad, episodic fashion, interweaving several different story lines in order to address a multitude of ideas. In the most comedic, a white documentarian (Brooke Shields) and her gay husband (Robert Downey Jr.) follow a group of affluent white teenagers (led by Bijou Phillips) around the city as they unabashedly pursue a Staten Island hip-hop crew. As the leader of the crew, Rich Bower (the Wu-Tang Clan's Power) struggles to leave his criminal past behind and become a legitimate musician. In the most dramatic subplot, an undercover police detective (Ben Stiller) frames a talented college basketball player (Allan Houston) in order to exact an ambiguous revenge. Toback blends improvisation with tightly scripted scenes, and the result is a loose, broad essay on the state of racism at the turn of the millennium. Black and White features impressive performances by the all-star cast, but it is Mike Tyson who steals the film with his unforgettable cameo. [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Robert Downey, Bijou Phillips, Allan Houston, Brooke Shields, Ben Stiller
Reviews
While Toback certainly makes a game effort to study the infiltration of hip-hop into the mainstream, his inability to choose what ground to cover ultimately results in an episodic hotch-potch.
The unfocused story travels through so many subplots that none of the individual stories are ever explored fully enough to pay off.
Perhaps you remember "The Pick-Up Artist," the movie that single-handedly killed Molly Ringwald's career? That was another Toback production. "Black and White," for all its arty pretensions and supposed shock value, doesn't break his losing streak.
It doesn't try to spell out all aspects of the issue or arrive at any particular point. Toback presents specific characters dealing with specific problems and, through their stories, somehow manages to take the temperature of the times.
This movie doesn't provide the luxury of detachment; it forces us to sort out the confusing racial dramas of contemporary America, and it's far more involving because it has no narrator telling us what to feel.
Amateurish in the worst possible way and sorely lacking ideas or any sign of intelligent life.
The only Black and White issue here is this: The film is bad, there's no gray area.
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