Blankman

PLOT:

Darryl Walker (Damon Wayans) is a clumsy nerdy appliance repairman, who is a gifted genius and blessed with a pure heart and optimstic Pollyannish personality. He is childishly naive to the realities of living in an inner city neighborhood that is gradually decaying, political corruption, and the police are on strike. It takes the murder of his grandmother, an avid supporter of Alderman Marvin Harris’ anti corruption campaign for Mayor, by members of mobster Michael Minelli to awaken him to the realities of his city’s urban decay.

He expresses his frustrations by forcefully protecting an elderly transit passenger from being mugged, and by ranting about the general corruptible state that the city has become. He was so pure and shielded from reality presumably because of his inventing that he doesn’t even realize that there is a “crackhouse in front of our flat”, and is so oblivious to the dangers that such an environment poses that he tries to storm into it and rebuke the gang members

This new awareness to social issues, inspires Darryl to become Blankman. He uses his technical expertise to create weapons and gadgets. His brother Kevin, a tabloid news cameraman, goes along with this fantasy believing that it’s Darryl’s way to deal with the murder of his grandmother from an insane act of violence. He demands an audience with the police commissioner, but the police are not impressed with his actions, ridicule him, and arrest him for disturbing the peace. Darryl is released on orders to see a shrink. The shrink calls Darryl normal, but a geek, infuriating Kevin, who the shrink then attempts to psychoanalyze. After Darryl is nearly killed protecting a prostitute from her pimp, Kevin tries to get him to tone his activities down, advising and assisting him with a neighborhood watch. After he delivers a woman’s baby in an elevator, he is asked fo his name. Darryl just stares, and Kevin replies, “He’s gone blank, ma’am.” Both the lady and the reporters interpret this as a name: Blankman. Over time, he protects various other people in the community, building up a reputation and inspiring both the town and other superheroes, such as Gay Man and Midget Man. Kevin, hoping to win the affections of Kimberly Johns, a reporter at his TV station, begs Darryl to allow her to interview him. He relents, on the condition that she wear a carnation. He brings her to his secret hideout, an abandoned subway station, and they talk about how he took up his duties to memorialize his grandmother and prevent crime from happening to others. Impressed by his heroics and modesty, Kimberly immediately falls in love with Darryl and she even kisses him, causing an embarrassing reaction.

Mayor Harris, who refused Minelli’s attempts at bribery, attempts to bring in outside money to pay the IOUs the city has been giving its workers. He also asks that Blankman be there to protect the people and receive a special award. As the money is released, Minelli’s henchmen storm the bank and take the mayor hostage, threatening to detonate explosives. At the police chief’s request and the crowd’s chants, Blankman attempts to save the mayor, but is unable to disarm all the bombs. He reveals his identity to the mayor and tells him his grandmother truly believed in him. Mayor Harris wishes him well and warns him to run, saying he will give Blankman’s grandmother his love. Blankman runs out screaming as the bank explodes. The crowd, seeing his failure, turn on him, chasing him down the street. Darryl then gives up his heroic works for a normal life, getting a job at McDonald’s.

Wanting a great story, Kevin’s boss Jason Stone, a tabloid news junkie, manages to contact Minelli and trades knowledge of Blankman’s love for Kimberly in exchange for an exclusive interview. While doing research on Minelli and their grandmother’s death, Kimberly calls Kevin with the news. As Kevin answers, Minelli takes Kimberly hostage. Minelli issues a verbal threat to Kevin (thinking he is talking to Blankman), telling him he will kill Kimberly if Blankman doesn’t show up. Kevin rushes to Darryl’s workplace with the news, but Darryl refuses to help, wanting a normal life. Kevin finally convinces him with the news that Minelli had their grandmother killed and that he will wear the costume Darryl designed for him. The two rush to Darryl’s underground lair where Darryl once again becoms Blankman, and Kevin becomes his new sidekick but without a name. So he just goes by “Other Guy”. The two heroes then rush to the TV station.

After shooting the reporter interviewing him, Minelli becomes fed up. While threatening Stone, Blankman and Other Guy crash through the window and attempt a rescue. The two engage in a fight with Minelli’s goons, losing. They are placed in a lottery water tank and left to slowly drown. Stone and Kimberly are chained to desks and left to die as Minelli has hidden bombs in the building. At this point, Blankman calls in J-5, his robot assistant, to save them. J-5 drills hole in the tank and the pair kick their way to freedom at the last minute. The duo then search for the bombs, finding them in a ladies’ bathroom. Activating J-5′s ”bomb disposal mode,” Blankman stuffs the explosives inside and frees Kimberly. Stone is left behind, a joke Other Guy wants to play on his boss. Once outside, the explosives detonate, destroying J-5. Distraught, Blankman threatens revenge.

Tracking Minelli to his hideout in a factory, the two prepare for the final battle. Other Guy, however, is overconfident and is wounded due to the fact that his costume isn’t bulletproof like Darryl’s. Blankman then defeats Minelli’s goons with his electric nunchucks. Just when Minelli is about to kill Other Guy, Blankman activates his jet-powered roller blades and captures Minelli and delivers him to the police. Blankman is once again acknowledged as a hero (this time, along with Other Guy) by the people, receiving the Mayor Harris Award for outstanding community service at a ceremony in their honor. Other Guy receives a Blankman t-shirt (much to Kevin’s disgust).

After the ceremony, Kevin introduces Kimberly to “Darryl.” The two make light conversation until Kimberly pretends to see a purse snatcher, putting Darryl on alert. Kimberly then reveals she knows that they are Blankman and Other Guy, and she kisses Darryl to prove it. Darryl then gets the same embarrassing reaction he had the first time.

Darryl falls to the ground in pain from his reaction with Kevin and Kimberly laughing at him. The film ends with a shot of a banner that reads “We Love You Blankman…and the Other Guy”.

REVIEW:

Before the superhero craze of the 2000s, everyone tried to be one in the early 90s. This is how we get Blankman.

Damon Wayans is a member of the super talented Wayans family. They just have good comedy genes (though I wonder if the gene pool is fading after seeing their last few films). The past month, I’ve been catching him on My Wife & Kids reruns. Watching him in this today, coupled with seeing his last show, really made me remember that this guy is a true talent.

As far as his character goes. It kind of grinded on me. I think this has a lot to do with me being such a fan on In Living Color. Blankman/Daryl sounded a lot like Anton mixed with Mr. Handi. For those that never watched the show or can’t remember, then this isn’t an issue, but for me it was a detracting, albeit a minor one.

David Alan Grier seems to always be playing the straight man. I guess if it works for you, why change it, right? There really isn’t much to say about him here, other than he does come off as a bit overbearing as the bigbrother, but that’s to be expected.

Robin Givens has never been lovelier than she is here. Something about the innocent reporter role she plays that really worked for her, and her acting chops weren’t too bad, either.

The action in this film is comic book-esque, but what do you expect? Its a superhero film, and they were fans of the old Batman TV show. Some scenes even have the sound effects written across the screen, which I thought came across as a nice touch.

Every good hero needs a villain. Jon Polito as Michael “The Suit” Minelli is Blankman’s. I would have liked for him to be a but more anti-Blankman. What I mean by that is, if Blankman has no powers and uses technical know how, then why couldn’t Minelli be driven mad by some sort of accident that gave him all kinds of wonderous powers? That’s just me, though.

Polito does what he can as a mob boss. If I’m not mistaken, this is a role he does often, so it’s almost instinctive.

Now, as I sat here watching this, haf of me was like WTF?!?, but the other half was quite entertained. Why, you may ask? Well, if you’ve ever seen Damon Wayans and David Alan Grier on In Living Color, then you know that they have awesome chemistry and comedic timing together. This isn’t the greatest film, but for what it is, it’s not too shabby. I think if Jim Carey would have been thrown into the mix, it might have been that much better. Sure, I think you can check it out, but don’t have too lofty of expectations. This is just a fun film, nothing more, nothing less.

3 out of 5 stars

Dance Flick

PLOT:

Suburban girl Megan (Shoshana Bush) gets into a series of misadventures when she moves to the inner-city and pursues dance. A nerdy street boy named Thomas (Damon Wayans, Jr.) is passionate about street dancing, but he is stuck working for a hungry obese gang lord (David Alan Grier) who only loves food. Megan later befriends Thomas’ ghetto sister Charity (Essence Atkins) who has a baby but also poor parenting skills. Charity has her own issues dealing with her dimwitted “baby daddy” (Shawn Wayans) who also is a bad parent. Once Megan and Thomas spend more time together, they become dance partners and begin to fall in love and start dating.

REVIEW:

The Wayans Bros. have been churning out these parodies for years now.  I’ll admit that I’m getting a little tired of them, honestly. Seriously, they stopped being funny after Scary Movie 2 and Epic Movie was an epic fail. Somehow, though, they managed to find their niche again with Dance Flick.

While there are numerous films parodies here, the plot focuses on spoofing Save the Last Dance mainly.

The gags throughout can get a bit old after a while, but that is part of the charm of these films. Each time you watch it those jokes that have gotten old, are the best ones the second time around.

Acting wise, no one is going to win any awards here, unless its for best Wayans or former WB star, because about 90% of the cast is either a member of the WAyans family or starred on a show that was on the now defunct WB.

Let’s face it, if you’re even going to take the time to watch Dance Flick, then chances are that you are more than familiar with the type of flick it is, a senseless parody with tons of pop culture references and bad jokes. However, if you’re one of those few that doesn’t fall into that category and this is your first trek into a film by the Wayans’, then you’re either going to love it or hate it. Its best that you watch and find out for yourself.

4 1/2 out of 5 stars

Boomerang

PLOT:

The film begins as Marcus Graham (Murphy) enters Chantress, the company that he works for as an advertisement executive. It is quickly established that he is quite the ladies’ man, as he tells his assistant to send flowers to nine different women, with cards reading “only thinking of you.” When he enters his office, Nelson (Geoffrey Holder), one of the creative minds also in Marcus’ department, shows Marcus a re-cut he’s done of one of the ads they’ve been working on. Marcus tells Nelson, who’s very creative but also very risque and overtly sexual with his style, that he must re-edit the ad, as some of the material may be offensive to women. Nelson reluctantly agrees, then leaves.

The next day, Marcus meets Lady Eloise (Eartha Kitt), the head of the company which will soon be acquiring Chantress in a business merger. She suggests that Marcus may be promoted to head of the marketing department, and invites him to her home for dinner that evening. Marcus realizes she intends to have her way with him, and thinking of the promotion, goes through with it and spends the night with her. The next day at work, he meets Jacqueline Broyer (Givens), a beautiful woman who he realizes is going to be given the job he wanted, and will soon become his boss. At the party being held for the companies’ merger, Marcus tells his friends Tyler (Lawrence) and Gerard (Grier) he’s thinking about resigning since he’s not going to be promoted. While there, Jacqueline introduces him to Angela Lewis (Berry), who works in the art department, and tells him the two of them should be working together. Also, everyone in the party is introduced to Strangé (Grace Jones), the wild fashion diva who’s been chosen as the new face of Lady Eloise Cosmetics. While looking for Jacqueline, Marcus bumps into Angela, and when he spots Jacqueline, introduces Angela to Gerard so that he can go and catch up with her. When he attempts to woo Jacqueline, she tells him she doesn’t date co-workers. Marcus however still believes he will be made the exception because of her flirtatious nature towards him.

Some time later at the office, Jacqueline tells Marcus they should go over some of their work together, and Marcus suggests they do it at his place over dinner, to which Jacqueline agrees. Marcus also finds out that Angela and Gerard will be going out that night. Both couples meet that evening, and ironically, Gerard, who’s not as successful with women as Marcus, ends up having the better evening with Angela, while Jacqueline and Marcus eat dinner in front of the TV, which doesn’t leave much time for the two to establish any sort of chemistry. Later, the two are sent on a business trip in New Orleans, and eventually sleep together while there.

Marcus, who assumes that the two are now a couple, is rather shocked to find that Jacqueline feels the two should take it slowly, and isn’t as enthusiastic about their relationship as he. While he feels he’s falling in love, he doesn’t understand how she can be so careless and inconsiderate about his feelings. After Marcus finds out that Jacqueline has told some of their personal business to Strangé, he tells her that the two of them should take a break for a while. Jacqueline gets the last word however, when she bluntly tells Marcus “it’s over.” Distraught about their breakup, Marcus’ work ethic begins to lag, and after he ruins a major business proposal, Jacqueline decides rather than fire him, she’ll give him a few weeks off work to get himself together.

During this time, Marcus begins to hang out with Angela, who tries to help bring him out of the funk he’s in. On Thanksgiving, Marcus, Angela, Tyler, Gerard and his parents get together for dinner. While eating, Angela and Gerard tell his parents that they aren’t a couple, when his father assumes that the two are. When everyone else leaves, Marcus and Angela clean up, and fall asleep on the couch together. When they wake up, the two begin to make out, and assumedly sleep together. While out with Gerard and Tyler, Marcus tells Gerard that he and Angela are going out together, which upsets Gerard knowing Marcus’ past with women.

Marcus, now much more relaxed and confident, becomes very attractive to Jacqueline again, and as he hadn’t put away his feelings for her, the two end up sleeping together again one night. The next day, Angela confronts Marcus about his whereabouts the night before, knowing he was with Jacqueline. Upset by how Marcus makes himself out to be the victim, Angela angrily leaves. Marcus tries to go back to Jacqueline, then realizes his feelings for her aren’t the same as his love for Angela.

Later, Marcus talks to Gerard, and Gerard tells him that Angela got a promotion at a new company she’s working for. Marcus apologizes to Gerard, and the two make up for the argument they had before. He then goes to Angela’s new job, and though at first she is very cold towards him, she finally forgives him, and the two get back together.

REVIEW:

This is one of Eddie Murphy’s best movies. Not in the same league as Coming to America, but still pretty good.

Netflix has this categorized as a drama. I’m not sure I agree with that. For me, this seems to be more of a lighter romantic comedy.

There are a lot of stars in this movie that we see in their early major big screen roles, such as Martin Lawrence, Chris Rock, and Tisha Campbell.

The film falls a bit when they try to get a bit too deep. The movie is on the lighter side of things, and all of a sudden they take this dramatic turn and it kills the mood, but it does eventually comes back to the lightness.

Halle Berry is gorgeous, as always, in what I believe is her first major big screen role. Eartha Kitt is tremendous, but could have had a little more screen time. It seemed like the scenes with her were a bit rushed.

All in all a very good film.

4 out of 5 stars