Bamboozled (2000)

Fed up with the stereotypical "black" sitcoms his network is producing, frustrated TV writer Pierre Delacroix (Damon Wayans) decides to give them precisely what they want: a minstrel show...complete with black face. Things get really interesting when (lo and behold) the show is a hit.

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Spike Lee films are hard to categorize. He crams a LOT into each one. From the very beginning his films were loaded with diversions and non-sequiturs. Each and every movie he makes is a chance to unload his brain onto the screen. Race, sex, the media, etc. Spike has opinions on EVERYTHING. Sometimes this kitchen-sink mentality yields a masterpiece (Do The Right Thing) and other times it produces a mess of interesting moments, scenes, shots, ideas and performances that never really comes together as a convincing whole (Jungle Fever). Fortunately Bamboozled is one of the former. This is brutal, cutting satire at it's (pardon my diction) blackest. The laughs stick in your throat. Funny as it is, this movie is an emotional undertaking. By the time the it's over, you are drained, but it is absolutely worth the trip.

Oh and on a Spike Lee-esque side note: It is CRIMINAL that composer Terence Blanchard hasn't won an Oscar!