Black and White (2000)

 
BLACK AND WHITE is an unintentionally hilarious ensemble drama with 
a low-budget look, an improvisational feel, and an absolutely crap-
py sound recording.  (Don't look at lips to tell whose talking...)  
The plot, revolving around the characters revolving around a New 
York gangsta rapper, is strictly Snoozeville.  The dialogue, on the 
hand, is an near-symphony of street slang.  That is, when you can 
hear it apart from the hip-hop soundtrack.  What seals the deal is 
the cast.  Power, Raekwon, Ben Stiller, Claudia Schiffer, Joe Pan-
toliano, Elijah Wood, Gaby Hoffman, and Jared Leto-- they're all 
here and more.  See Brooke Shields wearing dreadlocks and a nose 
ring!  Watch Mike Tyson place Robert Downey Jr. in a choke hold!  
Laugh upon recognizing Marla Maples as an Upper West Side wife and 
mother!  Dizzyingly funny stuff that's not supposed be.  No, we're 
not supposed to chuckle at a character nicknamed "Cigar" any more 
than we're supposed to laugh when Tyson uses the word "vernacular" 
in a sentence.  But we do and loudly.  James Toback (TWO GIRLS AND 
A GUY) writes, directs, and stages a Central Park menage-a-trois 
(during daylight!) like nobody's business.

Grade: D+        

Copyright 2000 Michael J. Legeros
Movie Hell is a trademark of Michael J. Legeros

Originally posted to triangle.movies as MOVIE HELL: April 9, 2000