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Reviews
Whiteboyz (1999)
A movie so bad it's enraging
Black street dramas, like Clockers & Boyz In The Hood, are made to raise awareness about the atrocities that happen everyday to young black youths. Whiteboyz is about three white boys who want to lead that life so bad that they dress, act and talk like they see on the movies and in rap videos. The idea of white males pretending they're black could have been funny if they had tried a This Is Spinal Tap approach to the film. Instead they take every cliche out of black street dramas, but because they're white and because it's set in the ridiculous setting of Iowa (no offense to you Iowonians) they slap a comedy label on it.
However, there is nothing funny about this movie. The group of white kids at like they think black kids act. When young black men finally enter the picture (in real life that is, not fantasies) they act nothing like that. Eugene Byrd plays Khalid (one of the only actors to leave this movie with some dignity) a young black man ready to start law school that is if he can stay out of the trouble the white boyz are looking for. The three want him to introduce them to Chicago drug dealers to set up a Iowa connection. The result of which is bloody.
I was actually angered while watching this movie, not at society (like with Do The Right Thing) but with the filmmakers themselves. This material is not funny at all. It's like a person telling a joke and gets the entire thing wrong, then can't remember the punchline. This movie just drags on and on which is not good since it's only 88 minutes.
This not only the worst excuse for a comedy I've ever seen, but one of the worst films I've ever seen. zero stars out of ****
David W.
Magnolia (1999)
A brilliant tale from a brilliant filmmaker
Being the fan of contemporary film as I am, Magnolia along with Hard Eight and Boogie Nights clenched the fact that director Paul Thomas Anderson is my favorite director. He is a hard-hitting film magician. If you think long and hard enough about the techniques he uses you can figure out how he did it. The mystery is how he thought of it. Of course he's been influenced by Scorsese, Altman, even Tarantino, but adds the gloss and refuses to weed out any scenes that most producers would deem unworthy. And that's what makes great filmmakers great. It would be criminal not to mention the incredibly strong performances by a gifted group of actors. I have always been open about my fondness of Julianne Moore, and here she lays it all out on the table until she's out of breath. Jason Robards is heart breaking as a cruel old man coming to his end. Philip Seymour Hoffman is the nurse just trying to help. Tom Cruise is vicious as creator of `Seduce and Destroy.' William H. Macy is touching as an original ex-boy genius who now can't even remember to remove his key from the lock. The current boy genius, played by newcomer Jeremy Blackman, is a child very few people like, even if he's one of the sweetest kids you've ever come across. Philip Baker Hall is the game show host who has worked well with children for thirty years, except his own. Melora Walters is surprisingly brilliant as the drug addict who always has tears in her eyes, as she uses sheets on her windows to hide from the world. John C. Reilly is the clumsy cop trying to do right and falls in love. Magnolia is not for everyone. It's strong, quick, and unlike any other movie you'll ever see. While making the dramatic comedic, and the comedic dramatic, he rarely lets us forget that this is a movie about the strange things that happen to the characters. Their stories and parallel lives weave in and out of each other's in a stretch of 24-hours (3 hours, movie time) ending with a most unpredictable event. Wild horses could not get me to reveal it!
Election (1999)
An inspired twist on political satires
Election takes a new twist on political satires like Bulworth, Primary Colors, and Wag The Dog. This film has the setting of a high school presidential election. Tracy Flick is an over-achiever and the leading candidate; she is the only candidate in the school's election. Reese Witherspoon plays her to perfection. She is perky, spirited, smart, and in the eyes of one teacher (Matthew Broderick) demonic. Tracy has already inadvertently gotten one teacher fired by having an affair with him. Mr. McAllister (Broderick) tries to steer clear of Ms. Flick, but being her teacher and head advisor of the student counsel, he finds that task rather difficult. To try and keep himself from any possible danger he seeks the help of the high school's ex-football star Paul Metzler. Knowing full well that Metzler will never play football again he encourages him to run against Tracy in the election. Chris Klein plays Metzler with such a goofy charm working for him that I would find it hard to believe that anyone couldn't like him. The third party is Tammy Metzler who is only running to get back at her brother and his girlfriend, Lisa. You see, Paul doesn't realize it, but before he was dating Lisa she was dating Tammy. Angered, and love-scorned, Tammy runs the type of campaign I remember from Brewster's Millions, and tells the voters not to vote at all. She is very funny and very malicious, with what one might call a soft spot. Election also explores McAllister's home life, which is a little boring, and so is his sex life. His wife wants a baby and is using sex solely for that purpose. However unromantic the sex scenes are, they are quite hysterical. He fantasizes about affairs with a friend of the family and Tracy Flick. Matthew Broderick is in a small way horrifying to watch in this role. Remember that he was once Ferris Bueller. He is often disgusting, and pitiful, but always there to laugh at, and very loudly at times. The best scene of the movie is Broderick staring in desperation into the large face of a vending machine. This film works on many levels, not one of which would be as a teenage comedy. This is not She's All That, nor is it Never Been Kissed. It is darker, and it knows it. As far as political-satires go, Election is the best I've seen, and to think, it's school-political-satire. The levels of the performances are outstanding. Matthew Broderick has recently had a very bad spell (Godzilla, and Inspector Gadget). Here he hits the right note playing the teacher mildly and seriously. Reese Witherspoon smothers the screen with her huge smile and striking personality, even if it persuades you to hate her. Chris Klein who also stars in this year's American Pie (almost the same role), reminds me of a young Keanu Reeves in films like River's Edge and Parenthood. Like most of the films I mentioned in the above statement Election is not for everyone. Some people will be disgusted, some will be offended, and some will turn it off. I believe in the realism of this movie. I believe in a world unbound by censorship and an industry able to make this art, imitating life, imitating art. Perhaps one day we will all understand the significance of these movies. I should have run for class office.