Review of Mo' Better Blues (1990) by Kevin D — 08 Jul 2010

Imagine the reverse plot of The Blues Brothers (the band is deteriorating rather than reuniting) sprinkled with those romantic subplots you don't care about (think the triangle relationship between Leo, Matt Damon, and Vera Farmiga in The Departed) and remove the fun and engagement from the two movies I just mentioned and then you'll have Mo Better Blues.

I've been wanting to see this Spike Lee joint for a while so it was a real disappointment to me. It was especially disappointing to me because it was the follow up to the movie that made him a legend (also one of the 5 best movies of the 1980's), Do the Right Thing.

In Mo Better Blues, denzel Washington plays a jazz musician who is quickly rising in New York City. Over the course of the movie a few different conflicts arise: Denzel has two romantic relationships going on, Wesley Snipes starts getting involved with one of Denzel's girls, Spike Lee has a gambling problem, like Harvey Keitel in Bad Lieutenant, and John Turturro plays a Jewish character that some people thought was too stereotypical.

none of those plot points were very original and as a result, the movie never fully grabbed my attention. The screenplay and dialogue were a letdown to, especially coming from the great Spike Lee. The scene before the ultimate final sequence of the film reminded me of the part in Once Upon a Time in America where Robert De Niro and James Woods were in the room together (at the end) for some reason.

I don't know why. Anyways, the ending of this movie left me feeling good, but it felt too rushed and out of place. The filmmaking here was good and it looked like a Spike Lee movie. The music was also pleasant, especially the title song.

The only thing was that this movie was not told like a Spike Lee movie from a narrative aspect and it did not sound like a Spike Lee movie from a dialogue aspect. The movie was alright, but with the talent on display here and the fact that Spike Lee was at the top of his game when this movie was released makes me think that a much better movie could have been made here.