121 minutes, 1988
w/ Laurence Fishburne, Giancarlo Esposito, Spike Lee
[Lee's sophomore effort is a surprisingly wonderful spectacle with incredible musical numbers ("Good and Bad Hair" especially) and intriguing black philosophy that simply suffers in tying everything together and developing particular concepts. About three minutes in, Giancarlo Esposito's fraternity G Fi G interrupts up a rally to support Africa led by Laurence Fishburne. Spike Lee and four other pending members of G Fi G crawl onto the scene in silver elbow pads and costumes, chanting as Esposito acts as drill sargeant. This kind of thing had never been put to screen before, and still hardly has, and is reason enough for me to like it. Pic strays back and forth throughout as both a comedy and a drama as different students consider their worth as black men and women, and while there are no white people in the entire movie, a light vs. dark skinned battle rages among the women. Samuel L. Jackson makes a memorable cameo as a jheri curled dropout who forces Fishburne and his friends to wonder whether college has them trying to be someone they're not. Deep perf from Fishburne, hilarious turn by Esposito and Tisha Campbell (My Wife and Kids) shines in the musical numbers.]
***1/4
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