Baadasssss!

Baadasssss!
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Mario Van Peebles
Produced by	Mario Van Peebles
Written by	Mario Van Peebles Dennis Haggerty Melvin Van Peebles (Novel)
Starring	Mario Van Peebles David Alan Grier Nia Long Rainn Wilson Terry Crews
Music by	Tyler Bates
Cinematography	Robert Primes
Edited by	Anthony Miller Nneka Goforth
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Classics
Release date	September 7, 2003 (2003-09-07) (Toronto International Film Festival) May 28, 2004 (2004-05-28)
Running time	108 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$365,727

Baadasssss! is a 2003 American biopic, written, produced, directed by, and starring Mario Van Peebles. The film is based on the struggles of Van Peebles' father Melvin Van Peebles (played by Mario himself), as he attempts to film and distribute Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, a film that was widely credited with showing Hollywood that a viable African-American audience existed, and thus influencing the creation of the Blaxploitation genre. The film also stars Joy Bryant, Nia Long, Ossie Davis, Paul Rodriguez, Rainn Wilson, and Terry Crews.

Various people appear as themselves, including Melvin Van Peebles and Bill Cosby.

The film received mostly positive reviews, with a 91% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 75/100 on Metacritic.Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times named it one of the best films of the year.Baadasssss! was nominated for several "best of" Independent Spirit and NAACP Image awards for 2005, including best feature, director, actor and screenplay. It was listed in the African-American Film Critics Association's top-ten films of 2004 and won best feature film at the 2004 Philadelphia Film Festival. However, the film ended up being a commercial failure, making less than $400,000 at the box office during its limited theatrical release.