The Color of Money

I was still in middle school the first time I saw a Dolemite movie, or more accurately a scene from one. The same older kids who I’d met through skateboarding and who got me into The Simpsons and Melvins had The Human Tornado (1976, Cliff Roquemore) playing on a t.v. at someone’s house, and the indelible impression of Rudy Ray More getting caught in bed by a white sheriff with his white wife and escaping by jumping down a hill naked followed by a freeze frame as he’s in mid air, on screen text that says “instant replay” and a v.o. dialogue hilariously expounding “so y’all don’t believe I jumped check out this good shit.”

     And that scene remains the crowning jewel of the Dolemite films. Taken as a whole the movies themselves suffer from low-budget production values and bad acting, but what they possess is authentic streetwise dialogue crafted with a sophistication of raunchy wit.

     It’s been at least twenty years since I’ve seen a Dolemite movie, and I’d rather preserve the high esteem I have of them instead of risking the danger of discovering they really aren’t as good as I remember. But there was a time in the mid aughts when I found a Dolemite website and streamed files of his comedy albums for free. His stand-up act is pure genius and benefits from lacking the extraneous elements of his movies.

     Dolemite Is My Name (2019, Craig Brewer) is the first comedy I’ve gone to see in a theater this year, and while the movie does have its funny moments, ultimately it lacks depth and feels like a movie-of-the-week. It’s also the first Netflix movie I had an opportunity to see in a theater, which is something I’d hoped for and very thankful to having been able to take advantage of.

     The screenwriting duo who wrote Ed Wood (1994, Tim Burton), Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, also wrote Dolemite Is My Name. And if Burton’s Batman (1989) was my favorite movie as a kid, then Ed Wood has to be my favorite Burton film as an adult—now that’s one dark fucking movie. Or is it? Because Ed Wood is also sweet, kind, full of empathy, romance and admiration for its characters. And that’s what makes it so powerful is that mix of feel-good schmaltz and the fading dying Lugosi shooting junk in his veins without a friend in the world except Eddie.

     Dolemite Is My Name shares the narrative structure of Ed Wood: naïve amateur passion goes all in to make a movie Hollywood has no interest in and succeeds. The big problem with Dolemite Is My Name is that there’s no dramatic conflict whatsoever. Every time an obstacle pops up, it’s so quickly and effortlessly overcome that it feels artificial. There’s a line when the Rudy Ray Moore character finally gets his movie in a theater through sheer tenacity and DIY ingenuity and tells his fellow cast and crew friends “Don’t nobody worry about what happens ‘cause tonight is a victory already.” Sadly, the whole movie never feels like there’s ever any reason to worry about what happens. There’s always a quick and easy fix for everything. Like the scene where Dolemite and friends have just gotten their movie distributed legitimately and are reading the baleful reviews in the next day’s newspaper just like in This Is Spinal Tap (1984, Rob Reiner), has no weight because whereas we feel uncomfortable with the failure and shame of Spinal Tap, here we know that they made their Dolemite movie on their terms for their audience and it’s selling; so what feels like the end of Spinal Tap here is money and fame for the Dolemite group.

     And with such an amazing cast, Dolemite Is My Name doesn’t so much find comedic gold, as it features credible performances. Do I buy Eddie Murphy as Dolemite? Absolutley. But he’s nowhere near as funny as he is in say, Bowfinger (1999, Frank Oz). Wesley Snipes is great too. But is he funny? Okay the exception might be Mike Epps—the funniest supporting actor in black movies over the past 20 years.

     The only funny parts in the movie are when Murphy performs the lines from Dolemite’s act, which leaves me to conclude that the best thing going for this movie is its historical aspect. The whole thing feels like a made-for-t.v. documentary reenactment. So, while the costumes and hair & make-up are terrific, and the real Moore was funny with an inspiring life story, the movie itself doesn’t really seem worthwhile beyond that.