Dave Chappelle's Block Party (2005)

So much average

People are voting emotionally.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

I take very seriously the whole process of consuming or taking part in artistic expression. Consequently, I also take very seriously the act of reviewing a movie feature, either with a rating on a website or with a written essay about it.If one cares to check my rating history, it's easy to realize I'm not one to give away 10 stars ratings that easily. Great movies which are universally praised haven't got it. To get a 10, a movie has to hit all the right notes with me."David Chappelle's Block Party" did it - but I'm not surprised. Only one director managed to get 4 of his movies rated 10 on my list. This means I'm putting Michel Gondry as the best director of all times, over the greats such as Tarantino, Gilliam, Kubrick, Hitchcock, Robert Wise, the Coen brothers and so many more, including Godard, Renoir or Scola.Those who know me are aware that I hate what I call "fanboyism" (i.e. the culture of idolatry) more than anything in life. I truly believe it's one of the most serious maladies of our times. But this guy knows how to shoot movies better than any other human being, so what can I say? The fact that he seems to avoid the temptation of becoming arrogant about his own success, and that this humility clearly shows on the way he writes his film-making history, it's evidence enough for me that what he has done should be an example for all others venturing in the crazy world of cinema.I also believe cinema and art as a whole should always be a tool to raise social awareness, so those who think "cinema is entertainment" should not even have started reading my review. For this very same reason I tend to give higher ratings to documentaries in general, as opposed to fictional feature movies - although biopics and history movies also take advantage of my bias, to the extent that they provide an accurate portrait of reality.The other three Gondry movies I've given a 10-star rating: "Eternal Sunshine...", "La science des rêves" and "Be Kind Rewind" - they all share this same verisimilitude quality, even though they are all science-fiction. I suppose it doesn't have to be real, to feel real.Besides these qualities aforementioned, a 10-star movie should also be beautifully shot, carry a compelling story, have beautiful music and likable characters. More than anything, they have to make me cry. And they have to make me laugh, and laugh hard. They need to be able to make me realize how beautiful the world we live in is. But they also cannot ever try to make me forget all the terrible things that we do to each other.They need to remind me how fragile is peace and harmony in the world, they should bring about a sober recognition of the challenges we face, and the defeats we've suffered in the past. But they should not be apocalyptic or defeatist (looking at you, Ridley Scott). We're still alive, and that's the good news, always. Aliens don't always have to invade Earth, conflict for conflict's sake does not a good movie make.It might sound crazy that a movie about a block party in Brooklyn could elicit so many feelings in one person sitting on the other side of the planet... I've watched it twice, separated by a good number of years, to make sure that it does. And it does, and I still love every minute of it, down to the very last second of soundtrack on the credits. Bare in mind that I'm not even a huge hip-hop fan, but this isn't about a music genre - it's about people like me, like all of us.Nobody in the world could have done it so beautifully, so gently, so unpretentiously. Nobody but Dave Chappelle could make me lose my breath laughing, and keep a smile on my face for almost two hours. Nobody in the world would have been able to capture the beauty of this reality, without putting his own ego on the way, but Michel Gondry - not unlike what he did on the very good "The We and the I", though here on "Block Party" once again he has achieved perfection. And he did so once again by not getting in the way of a beautiful story waiting to be told. His eyes are our eyes, the eyes of curious people not looking for a lecture, but eager to be allowed in different worlds, and to be accepted therein.Watch this, then join me on waiting for whatever the folks involved on this movie come up with next. They're talented and they appreciate the beauty that exists in this world, and we badly need it now that the dark times are back.

First and foremost, Block Party is not a comedy. I expected a comedy going into it but did not think twice once i realized what I had gotten myself into. It turned out to be a masterpiece. I am hesitant to use that word, but the movie was so genuine, so down to earth that no other word could be used. There are humorous moments in the movie, but they aren't pretentious. The material is placed in front of you in its raw form and you can laugh if you'd like. Overall, the movie managed to be completely light-hearted yet retain a depth to it, such a surreal quality. Get this movie and enjoy it, as there's no other possible outcome.

On the 18th September 2004 part of Bed Stuy in Brooklyn was shut off to host one of the biggest block parties hip hop has seen. Organised by Dave Chappelle for those from the area and his own "block" in Ohio. In the drizzling rain the crowd of thousands spend the day listening to music from artists including Blackstar, Kanye West, The Roots, Dead Prez, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, Common and others.With a cast list like this I was not going to miss this film and the heavy advert campaign over at OkayPlayer weren't going to let me forget that it existed. Being a fan of pretty much all the artists quoted above, the concert itself would have sold out in seconds had it been advertised in a traditional way and I know I would have been eager to attend. So coming to the film one hopes that the music will be done justice and that this will be what it delivers. Instead the film takes a rather mixed structure which combines performances with interviews, comic asides, Dave trying to organise it and practice sessions. In a way this structure compliments the "block party" concept because the day itself was about a community having fun rather than just a concert. Although this is all well and good, it doesn't really work because these sections don't really work. I love Chappelle's show but here he isn't that funny and most of his jokes are basic and (unfortunately) quite racist and he doesn't add much to the film – credit to him for pulling all this together but he doesn't add much to the delivery here. Likewise the interviews aren't that interesting. We have people being pro-black to the point of racism (Dead Prez) mixed with Wycleff who wisely tells a group of college kids not to excuse their failures by blaming the "white man". Many of the interviews hold the attention on the virtue of who is speaking but nobody says anything that interesting and the film itself doesn't seem to have an approach, message or structure to these parts.They wouldn't have bugged me this much if they hadn't taken up time that should have been devoted to the performances themselves. If you are into this type of music there aren't really any weak links at all because everybody pretty much nails it. Talib Kweli was one of the standouts for me although I am always biased towards him but West was just as good, while Mos Def was also pretty solid. The lack of time for Common was a disappointment as, although this was before "Be", he is still a great rapper and has great material even if Electric Circus (his album of the time) wasn't that well received. The Roots are good as are Fugees, Jill Scott and so on. The complaint I have is not of the quality but of the quantity. Perhaps everyone only did one or two tacks each but by the way day turns to night I doubt it. Given the enormity of the Fugee reunion, were two tracks enough? In fact could we not have done away with the majority of the interviews and made this a full concert film and would it not have been better for it? Overall then, those who dislike the artists will obviously avoid this and rightly so. However fans (like myself) of the artists will of course flock to it and it is a shame that we won't like all of what we see. There is no denying the impressive line-up and the quality of the music but the tracks mostly seem cut short to make room for interviews and contributions that have nowhere near the value of the music they replace. Still worth a look for the quality you know these artists bring but I would have liked more of them and less of Chappelle's sections.

Wretched, Unfunny, Unentertaining, Self indulgent wandering crap. Chapelle must feel guilty about his mainly white audience because he worked hard on making this presentation relatively inaccessible to them. THere is a lot of wandering dull dialog about nothing with various non-interesting rap people. A joke might happen once every 20 min and I don't think there's a single entire song on the whole damn thing. This is unfocused and self indulgent and not even the slightest bit interesting, funny or entertaining or watchable. BTW- I LOVE CHAPELLE SHOW- BUT THIS IS TOTAL JUNK.IF this video made Dave quit after he watched it- THAT WOULD MAKE SENSE. He has now joined OJ Simpson scouring the golf courses of America to search for the real killer.