Bamboozled (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

Saw this years ago when it was first released. Wanted to see if it was as I remembered...it was. Some laughs, some groans - expect nothing and you won't be disappointed. Set PCness aside and watch it for what it's worth = entertainment. Don't look for hidden messages or reasons for shaming it. It is what it is. Sometimes you've got to let all the ancillary politics and feelings go and just watch a movie for pure entertainment value.

Excellent movie. I'm not the biggest spike lee fan but I though this was great. It will make you laugh, but you will feel guilty for doing it.

Incredible Movie!Every single actor in this Spike Lee movie perform superbly. Where are the awards?Damon Wayans' character suggests a modern day Minstrel Show, where black men act to entertain white audiences.Holy!! It becomes a great success; to each of the black Americans' dismay.

Big fan

This one will blast your eyeballs to the back of your head. And why is it that I keep thinking of this movie when I see the Amazon Prime trailers for "Coming 2 America"?

Excellent movie. I watched it back to back to back several times. The subject matter will make you cringe, but as always Spike Lee knows how to push a button and make you think. 👍🏿

Incredible, brilliant movie but very ‘hard cheese’ if you don’t get the multiple layered satire... and even if you do. Brilliantly transferred, well worthy of Criterion imprimatur.

This is an important film for it’s commentary on the exploitation and propagation of African-American stereotypes and caricatures, both historically and contemporaneously. I saw this film twice during it’s theatrical release, and while the primarily white audience sat in seemingly stunned and confused silence at the end of the film, my family and I rose in applause. To be fair, the film might be difficult to consume and digest regardless of background. It resonated with me because many of the concerns, observations and questions which it examines were already targets of my inspection. The film is an indictment of all of us in our complicity in perpetuating these stereotypes (old and new) in film, music, art, fashion and everyday life, while at the same time giving credit to those often castigated African-American artists whose work opened the door for those who succeeded them. At it’s core, the message is about the ramifications of, and justifications for “selling out” at the expense of the dignity and reputation of all involved. For me, this is one of Spike’s most important movies, along with “Do The Right Thing”, “School Daze”, “Clockers” and “Blackkklansman”. Unfortunately, the transfer to blu-ray did not go well in this release. The film was shot in video, but I do not remember if the image quality was this bad in the theater, or previous releases. Sometimes the aspect ratio looks off and I don’t know if the scene was shot with a fish eye lens or not. The picture is often dark and sometimes out of focus. I am, nonetheless, happy to have this film in my collection. The music, as usual for a Spike Lee film, is wonderful. The idea of the film is a 5, but I can’t give this release more than a 3 based solely on image quality.

It saddens me that such an incredible film has largely gone ignored. Bamboozled is clever, funny, moving, and powerful. It also has a point to make, a very valid point that it makes in no uncertain terms.The criterion edition blu ray is the perfect way to watch it. It looks and sounds great and has a nice selection of special features (and also has a vastly superior cover to the standard DVD version I upgraded from).Do yourself a favour and give this film a chance.