Reviews of:
"Against the Ropes," "Barbershop 2: Back in Business," "America Beyond the Color Line" and "You Got Served"

By Esther Iverem
SeeingBlack.com Editor and Film Critic

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"Against the Ropes"

How do you tell the story of Jackie Kallen, the first female boxing manager, without really telling her story? This quandary is the biggest problem with "Against the Ropes," which while often entertaining, has a void at its middle. Thank goodness that Meg Ryan, Omar Epps and Charles Dutton are likeable enough to make this a winner by a very close decision.

Perhaps those who aren't ready for Ryan to be anything other than a romantic heroine will blame the wispy blonde for failing to deliver a convincing portrayal of Kallen, who, in the late 1980's, worked as a boxing manager for clients including Thomas "Hitman" Hearns. Maybe Ryan is a bit low-keyed to play the brassy and sassy Kallen but the problem here is really the script, which leaves out so much of the drama in Kallen's real life. The real Jackie Kallen was a mother while also trying to swim in the rough-and-tumble world of boxing. She faced extreme sexism and constantly fought off all kinds of nasty rumors, like the ones that claimed she was sleeping with her fighters. Ryan isn't given this kind of edgy material that might really draw us into the character and story.

Perhaps some of the film's void is a lack of panache. Director Charles Dutton said in an interview with us that the studio didn't want a very stylized movie. In other words, he said he couldn't deliver a "Raging Bull" type of film with creative, moody visuals, such as scenes in black-and-white or slow motion, that have come to be preferred for boxing films. Thank goodness that Omar Epps can box. At least the fight sequences look real. The script does not allow him to make the most convincing leap from street thug to professional fighter but he is able to act his way out of a box. Similarly, Dutton looks every bit the part of a boxing trainer but there is little in the story that really makes his character snap, crackle and pop.

One good thing that can be said for the script is that it is not a great White mother story. Kallen is not portrayed as some sort of magnanimous soul who comes to the ghetto to save the souls of the wretched. She is as complex and flawed as she is tenacious and ambitious. She is not made "big" at the expense of someone else looking small. This is not a fancy movie and though the story has some holes it also has some soul.

"Barbershop 2: Back in Business"

As far as these sort of comedies go, "Barbershop 2: Back in Business" is certainly likeable, and it is likeable without alienating half the Black movie-going public with cheesy jokes. The filmmakers have gone full throttle with Cedric the Entertainer in the role of an aging barber who, day-after-day, cuts up more than he cuts heads. And, thankfully, they have eliminated the need for a minstrel sideshow that, in the first film, distracted from the in-shop entertainment.

Set in a Black Chicago neighborhood undergoing "redevelopment," the barbershop, operated by Calvin (Ice Cube), must contend with the impending opening of a state-of-the-art "Nappy Cutz" barbershop across the street. In a more pointed manner than the first film, the filmmakers stress very Ice Cube themes of doing for self and supporting Black businesses. Also, perhaps partly in reaction to charges that the first film was a traitor to the Black community, they try to throw in ideas about community loyalty and the importance of Black history.

At the very start, "Barbershop 2" wraps itself in real Black history with a snappy montage of black-and-white photographs chronicling some real events and lots of real people with various hair fashion statements. At some point in the film, we learn why Cedric's character, Eddie, does not have to pay rent for his chair in the shop. And that reason, relating to his history with Calvin's father, makes it even clearer that he should be a source for wisdom and truly wise-cracks, rather than ignorance. This sequel allows Eddie to be a wiser soul who has a lifetime of experiences and joys and pains.

There is much about this film that is more developed and mature. The writing and performances are better. Eve has softened her neck-rolling routine and Michael Ealy, in the role of Ricky, oozes with screen presence, so does Troy Garrity in the role of Isaac. I must admit, I am not a fan of Kenan Thompson's slapstick comedy and his appearance here annoys me like a gnat. Queen Latifah's role is more like a brief, special appearance but she does trade beef with Cedric in all the scenes you have already seen in the previews. The biggest scene stealer is the baby who plays Calvin's son. What a cutie! If that isn't Ice Cube's actual son, he sure looks like him.

This is definitely a better barbershop. You can go and sit safely in the chair.

(First published February 6, 2004)

"America Beyond the Color Line With Henry Louis Gates, Jr."

These periodic television series that put African Americans under the microscope are fascinating in the same way that it is fascinating to watch someone roll the dice. Is the player trustworthy or must we watch out for tricks? What is their throwing technique? And what number do they finally hit?

Similarly, how we respond to these series will depend largely on our assessment that the narrator is reliable, truthful and somewhat in sync with our own racial views. With this criteria in mind, much of "America Beyond the Color Line With Henry Louis Gates," premiering Feb. 3 and 4, at 8 p.m. ET on PBS, is funneled through Gates' conservatism and seeming disconnection from the subject matter. Gates is the chairman of the Afro-American Studies Department at Harvard University who raised a storm of controversy in 1999 with his series "Wonders of the African World with Henry Louis Gates Jr." Critics said at the time that Gates is not a specialist in Africa, that he over-emphasized the African role in the Atlantic slave trade, and that the series was just another example of his tendency to join the White establishment in pointing a finger at Blacks in race debates. Five years later, "America Beyond the Color Line" could be just as controversial.

Gates is not a social scientist and throughout the series, he is a somewhat unconvincing narrator as he focuses primarily on the very rich and very poor, leaving the majority of working- and lower middle-class Blacks largely unrepresented. Like "Black in White America," produced by ABC more than a decade ago, Gates approaches polar opposites in the Black community—primarily the wealthy and/or powerful and, at the other end of the spectrum, the impoverished.underclass. Black women are also sorely unrepresented and somewhat dissed. If this is supposed to be a series that gives insight into important issues facing Black America, then it does not funnel these discussions through the majority of African Americans who work as teachers, secretaries, bus drivers, retail clerks, government workers or laborers. It seems that Gates is more interested in hearing what stars and executives have to say—and in lobbing softball questions at the likes of Colin Powell and Vernon Jordan. The result is a portrait of extremes and superficiality.

In the show's introduction, Gates draws parallels between this project and the scholarly work done at the start of the last century by the historian W.E.B, DuBois, who stated that the "problem of the 20th Century is the problem of the color line." Because this series is titled "America Beyond the Color Line," the viewer is left wondering if Gates believes the color line no longer exists, or is not as important as it used to be. In a recent interview, Gates told PBS talk show host Charlie Rose that he wanted this show to reveal the types of conversations that African Americans have with each other. But seldom do we get the sense that we are hearing Black talk as much an explanation of our predicament to White people by one of their preferred explainers.

Finally, as far as reliability goes, Gates as a sort of Black everyman, wandering the streets to chat with the masses, kind of doesn't work. For the most part, he manages to keep his huffy elitism under wraps and does come across as a nice, avuncular guy, as he ambles around housing projects and Hollywood mansions with the assistance of a silver-handled cane. But there is also often a disconnection with those he is interviewing. After Morgan Freeman explains very eloquently why he has returned to his family's property in Mississippi, Gates concludes that if he didn't respect Freeman, he would think Freeman was "whistling Dixie." After an Atlanta couple states plainly their choice to live with other middle-class Blacks in the area, Gates concludes that couples such as them are not living out the dream of the Rev. Martin Luther King, who, he says, most of all, fought for integration. Well, maybe that is how Gates interprets King's legacy. Others might argue just as forcefully that King wanted equality and justice under the law, and equal access to housing, jobs, schooling and transportation regardless of the color of our skin. It's not that we HAD TO sit in the front of the bus; we just had to have THE RIGHT to sit there. In one of the more amusing moments of the series, Maya Angelou chides Gates, reminding him of this different idea of progress that any "thinking" person should understand.

He interviews an interracial couple in Birmingham, Ala.—a Black man and a White woman—and allows the segment to end with the statement that the only real racial opposition that the couple, particularly the woman, has faced, has come from her husband's former Black girlfriends. Gates, who has a White wife, seems to funnel this aspect of the Black experience through his own particular circumstances. Similarly, later in the series, a discussion in Los Angeles about color discrimination within the Black community, with a group of aspiring Black actresses, seems disingenuous as well as disconnected.

Often, the issue is not disconnection as much as a failure to be totally honest about his agenda. He approaches the misery of Chicago's Robert Taylor Homes by rejecting what he describes as explanations for the community's pathology from both the left and right sides of the political spectrum. The left, he says, blames such problems totally on the legacy of slavery and racism and that the right puts all blame at the feet of individual irresponsibility. Gates says that neither set of answers take into account the "human" factor so he wants to know what the residents have to say. One grandmother cites the pervasiveness of drug addiction as the primary reason for the community's condition. A young man who says he used to sell drugs but now works at Popeye's, says that individual choice is the key. So, based on these included anecdotes, it sounds like Gates is leaning very much to the right. Similarly, he concludes at the end of the third show that it is up to the Black middle class, which he never mentions is imperiled in the current economy, to bridge the gap between rich and poor Blacks, "or the class divide will become permanent" in our community.

When he goes to Hollywood in the final show, Gates mostly sticks with the stars. Though he has chided Blacks for not writing our own stories and histories when we are miffed with those of Whites, he spends no time focusing on the burgeoning independent Black film community, which is attempting to do just that, and which is often distinct from Black Hollywood, which is largely about the star system, the status quo and someone else's story.

A lot of time and work obviously went into this series but if you are already living in Black skin, little is revealed here, other than how powerful privileged voices can be in the age of information. This is a roll of the dice that Black folks just can't win.

(First published February 3, 2004.)

"You Got Served"

You wouldn't guess it, based on its weak promotional campaign, but "You Got Served" is actually an energetic and entertaining hip hop dance movie, a youthful and worthy heir to classics such as "Beat Street" that captured the frenzy and human foibles of artistic street competition. At least, unlike the recent film "Honey," these filmmakers have given dance roles to actors who can actually dance.

The story, set in South-Central Los Angeles, focuses on the lively scene of dance crews who battle each other for cash and bragging rights. In spots, the plot is somewhat predictable and filled with stock characters like the (big, fat greasy) drug dealer and thuggy henchmen. And there are immature flourishes by director Christopher C. Stokes, including one dance scene inexplicably set in the rain. The film is saved, however, by electric performances by dozens of talented dancers, superb editing and by musical artists Marques Houston of iMX and Omari Grandberry of B2K. Both artists bring a freshness and camera-loving authenticity often lacking when urban films are cast with actors who bring little or no street flava. For example, Jennifer Freeman, who plays the adorable but uncoordinated teen-ager on ABC's "My Wife and Kids," is cast here as Houston's around-the-way sister and the results are laughable at times, like hearing the latest slang filtered through the clipped accent of a valley girl.

The racial aspect of the story's primary dance battle, between the crew headed by Elgin (Houston) and David (Grandberry) and another White crew from the suburbs, is downplayed in favor of the emphasis on class. The suburban guys are described as "some rich kids from Orange County" who are able to put up $5,000 for the battle while, in contrast, the brothas in the hood are hustling like mad to raise their part of the loot—and bringing madd drama on themselves in the process.

I hear from reliable sources that girls of a certain age are excited to see "You Got Served" while many boys are dissing both the film and the girly fawning over members of B2K who appear in the film. But, honestly, after checking out the flick, I think that many boys will enjoy it too. As it centers on hip-hop, it is really more about males than females anyway. As a matter of fact, it positively drips with young male ego and all kinds of madd attitude.

(First Published January 30, 2004)

— February 13, 2004

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