Blankman (1994)

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Expected more

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

In "Blankman," Damon Wayans provides the laughs as a nerdy inventor who, through use of gadgets he's devised in his own home, becomes a costumed superhero who "heroically" rescues his hometown from corrupt influences. Yet it's Robin Givens as intrepid TV journalist Kimberly Jonz who gives said flick its charm and its sex appeal. As the reporter who breaks the story of Blankman and serves as the film's Lois Lane, she deftly employs her stylish beauty, her high-toned sexiness, and her stiletto-sharp intelligence to create an intensely desirable counterbalance to Wayans's out-there funniness. When Wayans, after having spent an evening with Robin's Kimberly, tells his ever-dubious brother, portrayed by David Alan Grier: "When she (Kimberly) stuck her tongue down my throat, it was only there a few minutes," a considerable part of us fiercely wishes that we could have been in his shoes. In sum, while Damon Wayans is undoubtedly the comedic center of "Blankman," Robin Givens, as the film's aforementioned ace reporter, proves once again that she is without question the queen of the black celebrity/entertainment world.

I found the character a bit annoying. The voice and the over the top awkwardness mostly.On the bright side, the story was cute. Basically, a super hero parody, but on the light side. An event in the awkward and geeky Darrel's (sp?) life made him want to make a difference in the world. A lab accident led to a formula which made him somewhat indestructible.Where the movie shined, was in some pretty good comic moments. The rorshach test was funny. There was a scene I am pretty sure was stolen from Live and Let Die, where the voodoo guy comes out of the ground. Just to name some.There are better superhero movies. Some of the humor falls flat, or is cliché. The movie lacks focus at times, as another reviewer pointed out.But if you want a mindless tribute to Batman (the campy TV version,) and like movie on the light hearted side, you might like this one. Very little mean humor, swearing, adult and potty humor, which in itself, is refreshing (I like that stuff from time to time, but I also like it when a movie makes do without it for a change of pace.)

When I first wanted to see this movie I was much younger then I am now. I wanted to see it in theaters, but my parents thought it looked so stupid that they wouldn't take me. So I waited. The first time I actually saw it wasn't on video. It was on T.V. I loved it. It was very funny. Not to mention that it's a fun movie. David Alan Grier is just as funny as Damon Wayans. The whole super hero plot is very good and funny at sometimes with the situations. Take it from me. See this movie. You'll have lots of fun with it. See it with your friends, see it with your kids. Just see it and have fun.

Many jokes in Blankman center on certain private body parts which are for the most part, are played out in a pathetic and forced manner (the movie perhaps relies too much on this). You can't really expect a significant level of cleverness throughout this movie. The movie is seemingly willing to tell you from the start that it will get really dumb or juvenile in order to get a laugh, but it also tends to reach an amateurish level at the most. Blankman on certain occasions becomes a parody of the (what has by now been described as campy) 1960s television series Batman (an episode of that show even appears early on in the movie). There are several parodies of the fight scenes in that show were various comic book type of words like "Pow!" would show up. But Blankman doesn't really go further with these parodies. It doesn't really exploit the various aspects of the Batman television series effectively enough. Along the way, we also get several views on urban neighborhoods, but there really isn't much to get out of this on a highly satirical level. We're told that type of things that could possibly go on in reality in these types of places but the script is unable to twist this for some more humor. Instead, Blankman is perhaps more like a low-rent, much dumber, variation of comic book themes.