Bamboozled
| Bamboozled | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Spike Lee |
| Produced by | Jon Kilik Spike Lee |
| Written by | Spike Lee |
| Starring |
Damon Wayans Savion Glover Jada Pinkett Smith Tommy Davidson Michael Rapaport |
| Music by | Terence Blanchard |
| Cinematography | Ellen Kuras |
| Edited by | Sam Pollard |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
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Release date
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Running time
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135 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $10 million |
| Box office | $2,463,650 |
Bamboozled is a 2000 satirical film written and directed by Spike Lee about a modern televised minstrel show featuring black actors donning blackface makeup and the violent fall out from the show's success. The film was given a limited release by New Line Cinema during the fall of 2000, and was released on DVD the following year. It stars an ensemble cast including Damon Wayans, Jada Pinkett Smith, Savion Glover, Tommy Davidson, Michael Rapaport, and Mos Def.
Pierre Delacroix (whose real name is Peerless Dothan), is an uptight, Harvard University-educated black man, working for the television network CNS. At work, he has to endure torment from his boss Thomas Dunwitty, a tactless, boorish white man. Not only does Dunwitty use AAVE, and use the word "nigger" repeatedly in conversations, he also proudly proclaims that he is more black than Delacroix and that he can use nigger since he is married to a black woman and has two mixed-race children. Dunwitty frequently rejects Delacroix's scripts for television series that portray black people in positive, intelligent scenarios, dismissing them as "Cosby clones".
In an effort to escape his contract through being fired, Delacroix develops a minstrel show with the help of his personal assistant Sloane Hopkins. Mantan: The New Millennium Minstrel Show features black actors in blackface, extremely racist jokes and puns, and offensively stereotyped CGI-animated cartoons that caricature the leading stars of the new show. Delacroix and Hopkins recruit two impoverished street performers – Manray, named after American artist Man Ray, and Womack – to star in the show. While Womack is horrified when Delacroix tells him details about the show, Manray sees it as his big chance to become rich and famous for his tap-dancing skills.
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