Director: Spike Lee
Year Released: 2004
Rating: 2.0
I have to give the man credit: this Spike Lee, the one close to middle age, is certainly daring and (still) angry - he's like an American Godard (although placing JLG in the same room as Spike might not be the best of ideas), so full of fury and self-righteousness that his films lack cohesion and are less "stories" than excuses for the director to mouth off at the world. Granted, Godard's got time on Lee and also a respected artist - while some view Spike as merely a provocateur without the genius - but there are enough fascinating ideas in this particular movie for involved conversation: the story about the black janitor in the Watergate scandal, the parody of 'African American virility' (eight girls in one night!?), the slap in the face of Big Business, the difficulty of being a working person and maintaining a healthy marriage. The film, packed with countless ideas all smashed together, is a scattered disaster - he uses a shotgun when a sniper rifle was in order - and the idea of two men writing a story about lesbians is ridiculous (in fact, the entire movie is ridiculous), but Lee is not someone who wants to be ignored, and for the most part, this is edgy cinema. He wants you to get upset. He wants to be provocative and relevant. He just has to make one movie at a time, that's all.
