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Movies / On DVD / Black and White
Black and White

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Black and White (1999)

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Reviews Counted:78

Fresh:30

Rotten:48

Average Rating:4.7/10

Consensus: The atmosphere is affecting, and the story, at times, is compelling, but with a lean script and limp direction, Black and White doesn't add up to much.

Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: With Black and White, writer-director James Toback (Fingers, Two Girls and a Guy) confronts the topic of race head on--most specifically, the influence of black urban hip-hop culture on white... With Black and White, writer-director James Toback (Fingers, Two Girls and a Guy) confronts the topic of race head on--most specifically, the influence of black urban hip-hop culture on white America. Set in New York City as the 1990s wind to a close, the film is told in a broad, episodic fashion, interweaving several different story lines in order to address a multitude of ideas. In the most comedic, a white documentarian (Brooke Shields) and her gay husband (Robert Downey Jr.) follow a group of affluent white teenagers (led by Bijou Phillips) around the city as they unabashedly pursue a Staten Island hip-hop crew. As the leader of the crew, Rich Bower (the Wu-Tang Clan's Power) struggles to leave his criminal past behind and become a legitimate musician. In the most dramatic subplot, an undercover police detective (Ben Stiller) frames a talented college basketball player (Allan Houston) in order to exact an ambiguous revenge. Toback blends improvisation with tightly scripted scenes, and the result is a loose, broad essay on the state of racism at the turn of the millennium. Black and White features impressive performances by the all-star cast, but it is Mike Tyson who steals the film with his unforgettable cameo. [More]

Starring: Robert Downey, Bijou Phillips, Allan Houston, Brooke Shields

Starring: Robert Downey, Bijou Phillips, Allan Houston, Brooke Shields, Ben Stiller, Power, Scott Caan, Stacy Edwards, Gaby Hoffman, Jared Leto, Marla Maples, Claudia Schiffer, Joe Pantoliano, William Lee Scott, James Toback, Elijah Wood, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Kim Matulova, Sticky Fingaz, Garry Pastore, Raekwon, Method Man, Kidada Jones

Director: James Toback

Director: James Toback
Screenwriter: James Toback
Producer: Ron Rotholz, Daniel Bigel, Michael Mailer

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Release:

Apr 7, 2009

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Reviews for Black and White

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Times [UK] | comment Comment
10/18/08
Times [UK]
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N/R

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Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
10/18/08
Mac Verstandig
Mac Verstandig
rec.arts.movies.reviews
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
10/18/08
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

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Full Review Source: Detroit News | comment Comment
10/18/08
Susan Stark
Susan Stark
Detroit News
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Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
10/18/08
Empire Magazine
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... Black and White is sort of a mess, but it's the kind of worthy, ambitious mess that a director like Godard might make.

Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | comment Comment
08/31/08
Philip Martin
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

A daring film that has some sloppy flaws but is far better than Toback's previous effort, the dismal Two Girls and a Guy.

Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review | comment Comment
08/07/08
Bob Grimm
Bob Grimm
Sacramento News & Review

As lively and amusing as the film is in some ways, it does set up expectations at the outset that are never really delivered upon.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
06/17/08
Todd McCarthy
Todd McCarthy
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It looks like a mess -- if one stuffed with incident, issues and intrigue.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Time Out
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James Toback's Black and White is meant to be an incendiary movie, but it's really only just OK.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
05/26/06
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

The best thing I have seen come from director Toback.

Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews | comment Comment
04/09/05
Robin Clifford
Robin Clifford
Reeling Reviews

Mostly watchable and well-acted, but neither as engaging nor as exciting as it needs to be.

Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
03/16/04
Matthew Turner
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon

While Toback certainly makes a game effort to study the infiltration of hip-hop into the mainstream, his inability to choose what ground to cover ultimately results in an episodic hotch-potch.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment 1 Comment
01/13/04
Ben Falk
Ben Falk
BBC

Short bursts of captivating information are strung together in a series of quick-cutting vignettes, alternately hitting their mark and falling disastrously flat.

Full Review Source: Palo Alto Weekly | comment Comment
05/14/03
Jeanne Aufmuth
Jeanne Aufmuth
Palo Alto Weekly

The unfocused story travels through so many subplots that none of the individual stories are ever explored fully enough to pay off.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/08/02
Chris Gore
Chris Gore
Film Threat

Perhaps you remember "The Pick-Up Artist," the movie that single-handedly killed Molly Ringwald's career? That was another Toback production. "Black and White," for all its arty pretensions and supposed shock value, doesn't break his losing streak.

Full Review Source: Kalamazoo Gazette | comment Comment
06/21/02
James Sanford
James Sanford
Kalamazoo Gazette

It doesn't try to spell out all aspects of the issue or arrive at any particular point. Toback presents specific characters dealing with specific problems and, through their stories, somehow manages to take the temperature of the times.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
06/18/02
Mick LaSalle
Mick LaSalle
San Francisco Chronicle
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Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
03/19/02
Globe and Mail
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This movie doesn't provide the luxury of detachment; it forces us to sort out the confusing racial dramas of contemporary America, and it's far more involving because it has no narrator telling us what to feel.

Full Review Source: Movieline | comment Comment
01/09/02
Stephen Farber
Stephen Farber
Movieline

This lively mess proves that when Toback loses his head, he does it with style.

Full Review Source: Rolling Stone | comment Comment
05/10/01
Peter Travers
Peter Travers
Rolling Stone
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