Director : Michel Gondry Starring : Dave Chappelle, Mos Def, Lauryn Hill Trailer for Block Party Videodetective (Windows Media 28-300Kb) (a.videodetective.com) Trailer (Quicktime) (www.dtheatre.com) More Movie Reviews... Block Party Click here

Review by JASON ANDERSON :

reasons why a comedian would want to throw a party featuring his favourite musician pals are clear to Dave Chappelle. As the comic says while preparing to show Brooklyn a real good time in September 2004, "Every comedian wants to be a musician [and] every musician thinks they're funny." Chappelle claims to be mediocre at both but Michel Gondry's concert film proves him wrong on at least one count. Chappelle is as funny as he is magnanimous while inviting his friends and neighbours in Ohio (plus one very excited marching band) to join him with Kanye West, Common and Erykah Badu in Bed-Stuy.Shot with unfussy directness, the buildup to the show and the performances themselves are marked by a rare sense of spontaneity and few displays of ego. With The Roots acting as house band, the show is more like an informal jam than a succession of superstars -- even the reunited Fugees seem humbled by the circumstances. Though the events captured by Gondry's crew are somewhat tainted by the knowledge of Chappelle's looming personal crisis -- not long afterward..more..

Review By Ed Halter:

Pondering a Dave Chappelle film directed by Michel Gondry conjures up some bizarre cinematic prospects—dancing mandalas of belligerent black George Bushes, perhaps, or Rick James (bitch!) swirling through space-time wormholes—but Half Baked fans be forewarned: The resolutely grounded Dave Chappelle's Block Party offers no such otherworldly fantasies. A street-level document of a free all-star music concert thrown by the comedian in Bed-Stuy in September 2004, Block Party is all about the pleasures to be found in the very real world, albeit one enhanced by celebrity largesse. Which is to say, this picture remains faithful to the underlying affability of both Chappelle and Gondry, orchestrating a feel-good homestyle vibe that, while peppered with moments of sly political commentary, never harshes its own, slightly bittersweet mellow. In time-honored concert-film structure, the backstage serves not just as backstory, but a purported inside track to the performers' just-like-us humanity—a convention cemented as early as D.A. Pennebaker's Don't Look Back. This careful conveyance of realness continues in Block Party, now informed by the gimmicky logic of talk shows and reality TV. The film opens in Dayton, three days before the concert, where erstwhile resident Chappelle distributes golden block-party tickets to surprised Ohioans: the clerk at his grocery store, a local barber, and various folks on the city's downtown sidewalks. The mostly black Central State University Marching Band erupts in cheers when granted their invite to New York; a middle-aged white lady wonders if she should buy a thong for the event..More..