Mo' Better Blues

Enjoyable, evocative tale might not necessarily add up to much, but boisterous performances, and a wonderful jazz soundtrack, ensures that the film is a lot of fun to watch, with Washington a stand-out along with Lee as both director and performer. Becomes somewhat muddled in the last section as if Lee struggled to hone in on what he wanted the final message to be, and occasionally hampered by overdone, 'ugly' Jewish stereotypes by the Turturro brothers.

I don't really know why I didn't get involved in this as much as I should've. All the characters are well written and acted and sound authentic, except for the caricatured portrayal of the Jew characters, which doesn't make sense in this non-comedic film. I suppose there just isn't enough compelling drama and/or conflict in this to keep me interested throughout its 2+ hour running time.

A good effort from Spike Lee which showcases his strengths and his weaknesses - yet still results in an entertaining film celebrating jazz music. The segments of the film set in the jazz club feel timeless, reflecting the tone. There are too many subplots, largely involving a fairly one-note performance from Spike Lee (and one from John Turturro), and the rivalry between Washington and Snipes suffers because of it (both give great performances though). The ending feels a little tacked on too.

Surprised this isn't one of his bigger pictures. Direction and music were great again but the standout this time was the sound design making every crowd scene feel full of life and seamlessly shifting focus between music and dialogue. My only nitpick was the epilogue, which felt at odds with the rest of the film thematically and just shoehorned in for the full-circle ending.

Spike's second masterpiece. The whole movie moves like jazz music.

A huge comedown after Do The Right Thing, Mo' Better Blues is neither effective as a character study or as an exploration of a downtown jazz community. Bleak is not a compelling character, and his rivalry with Wesley Snipes, which should have served as the anchor to ground this wayward film, is shallow and predictable. The jazz club scenes are good, but there are too many subplots, and Lee doesn't seem to know how to tie them all together. It's stylish but empty.

The plot is bloated, rambling, and self-indulgent, and Lee once again gives himself way too much screen time. But I did enjoy it as an aimless hang-out movie for the most part, and Lee's inventive camera is always fun to watch. If he'd trimmed about half an hour it would be a much better movie.

Very good. Denzel really nailed what so many musicians are like

Denzel commands the screen but it's the two women in love with him that steal the show.

There's a really awesome song in this movie, called mo better blues. They play it after the halfway point. Other than that though, this movie is extremely boring. Worst I've ever seen from Spike Lee.

68.000

The music is great (so is Denzel) and the end is sweet and charming. It's kind of a plot mess, where it becomes Giant's story instead of Bleek's for awhile, before almost all the plots just evaporate away.

should have ended 10 minutes earlier

I generally prefer very natural-sounding dialogue, but I can deal with stylized dialogue when it's done right. In this movie, most of it just sounded like Lee trying to be clever, rhythmic, or profound. I didn't think it worked as either a tribute to jazz or a compelling character profile or a contemporary romance. It has its moments, though, and credit must be given to Dickerson's photography. Cynda Williams is definitely the weak link in otherwise decent cast.

Not bad.

just for Cynda.