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Baadasssss!
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MPAA RATING: R for pervasive language and some strong sexuality/nudity
Starring Mario Van Peebles, Joy Bryant, T.K. Carter, Terry Crews, Ossie Davis, David Alan Grier, Nia Long, and Paul Rodriguez
Mario Van Peebles directs an honest and revealing portrait of his pioneering father Melvin. (Sony Pictures Classics)
| GENRE(S): | Drama |
| WRITTEN BY: |
Mario Van Peebles
Dennis Haggerty Melvin Van Peebles (book Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song) |
| DIRECTED BY: | Mario Van Peebles |
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: September 14, 2004 Video: September 14, 2004 Theatrical: May 28, 2004 |
| RUNNING TIME: | 108 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: | USA |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
The average user rating for this movie is 8.6 (out of 10) based on 8 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Chad S. gave it a7:
"Badasssss!" uses an ongoing oral history as told by the actors, but it's doubtful anybody would have minded if the filmmaker borrowed "American Splendor['s]" technique of using actual documentary footage within the film's narrative. Better yet, tell the story sans running commentary. In spite of this distraction, "Badassss!" tells an important truth about independent film; that it wasn't John Sayles who followed in the immediate footsteps of John Cassavettes. "Sweetback's Badassss Song" preceeded "The Return of the Secaucus Seven" by nine years. Ironically, however, this movie will probably age better than the revolutionary film that inspired it. No disrespect. The same thing would happen if somebody made a film about Lizzie Borden("Born in Flames").
Dan S. gave it a 9:
This film is a very honest, funny, badass look at a part of film history I had no idea of. In that way, this movie is a huge amount like Ed Wood, in that I'm sure if you know and love the subject of the movie, you will enjoy it that much more (being a a hardcore Ed Woodian, I was laughing to the point of tears through that movie while everyone else was just shaking their head). Because of this, not all of this movie was as reasonant to me, and some of it felt a little "inside", as I maybe had to have known a little more about Sweet Sweetback and Melvin Van Peebles. It is not always clearly depicted, for instance, if Melvin was truly making the movie to be revolutionary, or if he was just a rather obsessed guy trying to find a way into the movie industry while seemingly forgetting about his kids and family. This matters little, as the movie is very entertaining, with lots of things that show why real life is often more crazy than anything made up (the secretary putting a loaded gun in the prop box by accident, for example). Mario just drips cool throughout the whole movie, and is one of the best performances of the year. The ending is very touching and joyful, and make sure to stay for some of the real people depicted in the film in the credits. Now the only problem for me is trying to find a copy of Sweet Sweetback's Baadassss Song!
Spongeee gave it a 10:
This movie was totally badasss!!! It was excellent on all levels, from story, techs, acting, music, message, etc. Watch it!
Vince H. gave it an 8:
It seems that Van Peebles really tried hard to make this as accessible and mainstream a "indie" film as possible. Really funny at times, but mostly enthralling & captivating as we watch Van Peebles and his extraodinary attempts to make his film a reality. Just as insightful a chronicle of a filmmaker's obsession as Chris Smith's "American Movie", this is a definite must-see. I am very surprised as well that all the studios in Hollywood (the indies too) passed on this film. It has the possibillity to crossover in the regular market.
Paul W. gave it a 9:
With beening a huge Blaxploitation fan I really looked forward to seeing this film and it did not let me down at all. The film did start a little slow but you can only get caught up in the story of man who faced so many barriers to getting HIS film made from film companies and even getting staff to help him film it. A wonderful film if you want to see how you can achieve any thing in life if you believe in it.
Mark B. gave it an 8:
Like father, like son: Director/co-writer/star Mario Van Peebles has made a weirder-than-fiction, warts-and-all account of how his dad, Melvin Van Peebles, scraped together the legendary 1971 classic of Black cinema, Sweet Sweetback's Baaadasssss Song that deserves to reach at least the same level of cult status that the original did. Engrossing and often very, very funny, Baaadasssss! is at times reminiscent of Tim Burton's delightful Ed Wood, the obvious difference being that Mario is saluting a filmmaker making a GOOD movie on a goose-egg budget. Like Ed Wood, Baaadassss! excels in its depiction of a fringe filmmaking community; it enjoys and revels in each cast and crew member's individual quirks and foibles but also celebrates them coming together as a family under fire. (I know I shouldn't have, but at least once I was also reminded of those old Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland "Hey, my uncle's got a barn! Let's put on a show!" musicals, which is probably not an association that Mario or Melvin had in mind.) Given how corrosive Sweetback's criticism of the White community was in its day, and how many White moviegoers and critics were offended by it, I was somewhat pleasantly surprised at how fairminded Mario is toward his film's Caucasian characters: the producers and Hollywood types (Vincent Schiavelli, Sal Rubinek) who question the logic of some of Melvin's decisions are shown to make some valid and legitimate points, and Melvin's hippie business partner (Rainn Wilson) is probably the nicest, sweetest character in the whole film. Mario lets these actors steal every scene they're in, but he has nothing to feel insecure about: playing his sometimes destructively stubborn, principled-but-unprincipled father, the younger Van Peebles delivers one of the two or three best acting performances of this movie year (and looks so good smoking a cigar that he could set antismoking efforts back to BEFORE 1971!) Sadly, this played in an arthouse in my city for only a week, and I wish they'd shown it just a little earlier in the year: despite the fact that Mario still obviously harbors some mixed feelings about Sweetback's production (and the role he played in it at age 13), I can't think of a more loving Father's Day gift than the one that Mario has given Melvin.
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