Even though Cage, Jackson, and Dourif are all doing their best, they have absolutely nothing to work with. There’s almost nothing redeeming about this movie. It’s, by far, my least favorite movie in #CageClub, and one I will never return to. There’s so much about this movie that’s cringeworthy. Except, in the process, they burn Sam Jackson’s house down. in Selma moment when he rallies a mob of angry black people to rise up against the incompetence, buffoonery, and overall racism of this inept police force. (Or, you know, not.) Hooray! (?) Meanwhile, Giancarlo Esposito (popping up for the second time in #CageClub, following his tiny part in THE COTTON CLUB) is summoning his best Martin Luther King, Jr. As time goes on, they learn that one another really aren’t so bad, ultimately leading to racial harmony. Wacky Antics Ensue, and Cage and Sam Jackson move from one house to a next and take a few more hostages. Of the shotgun he holds, he says, “Don’t worry, brother, it’s just for appearances.” It’s around this point, when Cage has only been on screen for 10 minutes and we’re only half an hour into the movie, that I thought, ‘Oh, man, this is gonna be the whole movie, isn’t it?’ It’s poor screenwriting, it’s poor storytelling, and it’s just overall bland and boring. “You sure you ain’t the cook here?” he jokes to Sam Jackson. Odell owes these cops literally nothing, but still honors their demands and goes along with their plan in the house, even when things get out of control.Ĭage fully commits to the plan. The cops spring him to cover up their SNAFU, and tell him they’ll let him be on his merry way to Canada if he goes into Sam Jackson’s house and “surrenders” to them. We’re not exactly sure (we discuss it on the podcast, so listen tomorrow!), but ultimately it doesn’t matter. (Also worth noting: Dabney Coleman drops a really hard n-bomb in this movie.)Īmos Odell is in prison for either (a) being drunk and disorderly and getting into some mischief with an underage girl, or (b) statutory rape. Brad Dourif (in a role far, far below his acting ability) even opens fire on Sam Jackson at one point “He had a gun, I saw him holding a gun,” he says later in an attempt to defend himself and his actions.Įven Cage’s character, Amos Odell, is a racist white man who ultimately sort-of-kind-of learns a lesson? At least in the end, Sam Jackson calls him “brother” (after being offended by Cage’s use of the term throughout the movie), seemingly ending racism once and for all! It’s all over, right guys? Racism is done? We can thank Amos & Andrew? The cops, without ever seeking a shred of validation or proof, show up to his house, guns drawn, demanding he come outside. All they see is a black man in a house they don’t think he belongs in, and they call the cops. They didn’t realize their friends had sold the house, though, or that Sam Jackson (a world-famous activist, playwright, and more) bought it, and is rightfully in that house. Jackson fiddling with a stereo in a house that (used to) belong to one of their friends. The whole conceit of the movie is that an old white couple sees Samuel L. It almost seems like a “funny” reflection back on racial tensions of the time, but it doesn’t land at all. It’s one example of many that prove that Amos & Andrew is a relic of a really weird time - it’s of a simpler, more innocent era, but also made shortly after the Rodney King beating and the Los Angeles riots of 1992. Most egregiously, several characters don blackface (though it’s for “night ops” so there’s an “excuse”), which is something that just wouldn’t fly in today’s world. It’s fitting, then, that Amos & Andrew’s “comedy” follows in the rich tradition of racist comedy. When Amos & Andy made its way to TV, its characters were played by black actors, but its origins were founded in a manner that would never fly in today’s society. Its name is a reference to a radio show from the 1950s, “Amos & Andy,” where two white guys voiced a whole bunch of black characters on a show set in Harlem. AMOS & ANDREW has its roots firmly planted in an era where racism was not only accepted, but the norm.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |