'Bamboozled' holds up better than I expected it to

For a while, it felt like Bamboozled was the last great Spike Lee movie. There were occasional flare-ups of his old genius -- think 2006's Inside Man -- but it really wasn't until his Oscar-nominated BlacKkKlansman that he seemed to fully hit his stride again.

In some ways, Bamboozled contains all the excesses and eccentricities that plagued much of his later work.

And as much as it meant to me when I first saw it, I was worried that it would be a painful re-watch when I got my new Criterion blu ray of the film.

I'm happy to say that it still feels very fresh and funny. It's about a subtle as a heart attack and the violent turn of the last act undermines the strong satirical tone that is the movie's strength -- but it's a delightfully provocative movie, which draws it's inspiration from other classic media critiques like Network (which it openly cribs from) and A Face in the Crowd.

The premise is a howler. Damon Wayans (affecting an annoying, over the top accent) plays a self-hating black TV executive who pitches a revival of blackface and minstrel shows to his ignorant boss (played hilariously by Michael Rappaport) in order to get out of a contract and instead gets caught up in a hit cultural phenomenon.

Lee says he had Mel Brooks' The Producers in mind when he conceived the plot, although Wayans' motivations never feel fully convincing. In a way, the set-up doesn't matter, what's most compelling is the way in which Lee demonstrates how we are all often guilty in indulging hatred, especially when we think it's at someone else's expense.

There's a wonderful moment early in the film when the blackfaced stars of Wayans' show (played by Tommy Morrison and Savion Glover) first appear on a stage to perform their racist routines. The audience (which is diverse) initial sits silently, in shock.

But slowly some of the black audience members start to laugh and applaud and when white audience members see this, they feel they have a license to guffaw wth impunity.

According to Lee, those were the real reactions during the shooting of the movie, which is fascinating. The movie, ironically predated the meteoric and controversial rise of Tyler Perry, and was instead a response to the tone deaf comedies of the now defunct WB and UPN networks. Some of those references may be dated now but the spirit of that kind of commercial product certainly remains.

We are still debating representation and the trauma that hateful images can provoke but twenty years ago it felt like Lee was ripping a band-aid off int he most in your face way possible. Strangely enough, blackface continues to pop up as a divisive topic as politicians on both sides of the aisle have been pilloried for indulging in it and careless commentators like Megyn Kelly have paid a price for defending it.

Lee is more sophisticated in his take than some might suspect. While he conveys how dehumanizing blackface is, he doesn't deny the inherent talent and skill of the black performers who donned it. Nor does he set up any unassailable heroic character in the film. Jada Pinkett Smith, who plays Wayans' loyal assistant and Davidson come the close to being voices of reason, but only after they both actively participated in a nakedly racist enterprise for profit.

Meanwhile, Lee includes a savagely funny takedown of aggressively pro black culture within the community through a subplot involving Mos Def as the leader of a hip-hop collective with poorly a defined political agenda. This film is a great reminder of what a naturally funny and charismatic actor Mos Def was and can be. It'd be nice to see him return to acting.

The film itself feels very loose and experimental. It's largely shot on early digital cameras, which sometimes gives it an almost documentary like feel. Other times it has very cinematic flourishes that call attention to themselves, like his hilariously silly ad breaks for a fictional malt liquor called The Bomb and a parody of Tommy Hillfiger which doesn't pull any punches.

The movie is a bit of a mess. But it's a reminder of what an original voice Lee can be and is further evidence that his he is one of the most criminally under-appreciated directors of all time.

Say what you will about him and his undeniably uneven filmography, but he consistently interrogates issues and characters that are simply missing from most mainstream entertainment. We need voices like his, even if we don't always feel comfortable with what he's telling us.