Wow! Such a good movie.

Wonderful character development!

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

"Dave Chappelle's Block Party" watches as stand-up comedian Dave Chappelle attempts to put together a secret, low-budget block party in the Bedford-Stuyvesant district of Brooklyn, New York. The film was inspired by Mel Stuart's "Wattstax". Though directed by Michel Gondry, Chappelle was the creative force behind the picture.Chappelle grew up in a middle class, Washington DC household. His sketch show, "The Chappelle Show", became popular in the early 2000s. After three seasons Chappelle would cancel the show, disgusted with the commodification of both his image and message. His "Block Party", in many ways, plays like a summation of this period of his career. A work of social critique, the film finds Chappelle attempting to put on an entirely self-funded block party which exists outside of the sway of big corporations. Bypassing the need for corporate sponsors and relying heavily on the charity of artists, the film attempts to put on a carnival reminiscent of the more spontaneous ghetto parties of yesteryear."I could no longer be sure of the authenticity of the show," Chappelle says of his TV work. "Block Party" is itself obsessed with "authenticity". In this regard, Chappelle attempts to put on a show which resists artificiality, commodification, flies under the radars of the media circus, is free from restrictions and corporate obligations and exists entirely outside of capitalist logic. He then assembles a number of social critics and singers, some of whom don't receive mainstream media exposure due to their challenging perspectives. So we have the pseudo-Marxian hip-hop group Dead Prez ("capitalism is born from the backs of blacks"), the socially conscious Mos Def ("War is a global, economic phenomenon"), the didactic Talib Kweli and artists like Erykah Badu and Wycleff Jean. This, Chappelle tells is, is "the show he always wanted to attend". One which not only educates and entertains, but which serves as a means of creatively transforming oppressive environments and which ushers people toward social emancipation.Unlike most music festivals, Chappelle's rave is set deep within a bustling, impoverished neighbourhood. His audience is chiefly comprised of African and Latin-Americans, some of whom are provided with free transport to the venue. Elsewhere the film contains brief interviews: we meet a white couple who build a home on their own, various school teachers, artists and urbanites. Complaints about the "bad language" present in R and B are juxtaposed with the slang of black New Yorkers, to whom the N word is either blasé or a term of endearment. Chappelle, foul mouthed, is himself a devout Muslim. This is unsurprising. Today, most of the moral challenges hurled at capitalism come from select minorities or those on the system's fringes (the Catholic church is tentatively trying to build a new identity doing the same). As time goes on, they all become absorbed by existing power structures.Of course you can bring a horse to water, but you can't force it to drink. Though Chappelle means well, his little resistance meets unforeseen obstacles. Gondry's cut of the film is shapeless, omits key songs and keeps deviating from the party line (influnced by Chappelle, Gondry would direct documentaries on Noam Chomsky several years later). Singers like Kanye West also offer little, whilst other songs veer toward misogyny, a trend common in rap and hip hop, a genre which subconsciously tends to revolve around castration and expressions of powerlessness. Ironically, all the "strong", "empowered", "successful" African-American female singers (Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Lauren Hill) present in the film sing love songs in which they fawn over men. The result is a mixed bag, a result which is perhaps inevitable. As Herbet Marcuse once wrote: "As the music of the soul is now the music of salesmanship, all alien/black rationality is centred on the rationality of the status quo." Or as philosopher Theodor Adorno once said: "what slips through the net is always filtered through the net."7.9/10 – Worth one viewing.

This movie's editing was pretty scattershot, the overall direction is laissez faire and there's only a skeleton of a story in place. As far as a documentary goes, there's nothing tight or polished about it. As a concert film goes, it's too unfocused on the concert itself to really be all about the music. The film certainly isn't a recording of Chappelle's comedy act. So... how does this hybridized scatterbrained film still manage to collect an enthusiastic response from me? I blame it on one man: Dave Chappelle. There's something about his character and persona that's just magnetic. It seems to be contagious as the individuals he comes in contact with all seem to spark up after they interact with him. When he gives the golden tickets to the two kids in Ohio, their conversation with the camera afterwards carries an excitement that you don't normally get. When Dave invites the Central States University marching band to join the concert, the enthusiasm is almost overwhelming. And as Dave muses on music, politics, comedy and the concert, you get a sense that there's a lot more to him than the racially-tinged scatological humor that he often presents in his comedy act and his Show.And although Dave Chappelle is the real joy of the film, in all of his goofy enthusiasm, the music acts and the contributing cast of concert goers adds to the overall vibe of the film well. From the opening of the concert with a large prayer and who I think was Common praying over the evening to the resting of the concert after the Fugees show up in a wondrous event, you get a sense that this concert is a whole lot more than the commercial endeavors often put on by artists. Maybe it was because it was a free concert, or maybe because the organizer and the acts were all of a different flavor than what typically gets played on radio, but you could sense positivity oozing out of the screen.And of course, part of me just went for the music. The list of contributers included The Roots, Common, Kanye West, Mos Def and Talib Kweli, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Dead Prez and even a potent Fugees reunion. Often joining each other on stage. That was worth the ticket price for me right there. The energy was cut loose from the start and the interspersing of the concert footage with the story around the concert was effective in keeping the momentum of the film going. Dave Chappelle provided moments of comedy throughout the film as well to keep us and the concertgoers entertained. Nothing as potent as on his show, but nevertheless, humorous and enjoyable.The real weaknesses occur when the film strays a little too far from the concert and Chappelle and the momentum slows down tremendously and cutting into an energetic concert right after slowing down the tone of the film creates a bit of dissonance. But once the film gets buoyant it's pretty difficult to slow down. A bit of a more careful editing job would've let to a much more effervescent result. But in its current state, this was the best block party I've ever attended and the most enjoyable hybrid concert/comedy/documentary I've seen in a while.Recommended, especially if you know the music and enjoy it. 8/10.

Even though this film has been billed as "Dave Chappelle's Block Party," Chapelle is upstaged by the musicians who perform in the film, especially the live band that plays the music for all the acts. Dead Prez, Kanye West, Talib Kweli and others put on a pretty good show and the concept of the film is interesting, but Chappelle's comedy and narration aren't that good. His jokes are only moderately funny and sometimes offensive (although I guess that's to be expected from him). If you see this film, see it because you like conscious hip-hop and live music, not because you like "Chappelle's Show." Despite his weak comedy, Chappelle has to be given props for assembling all the performers and making this concert happen. He pulled it off without a hitch, except for the rain (that wasn't a spoiler, was it?). 7 out of 10

I REALLY wanted to like this movie, and I guess I'd have to say that I did like it, but not nearly as much as I thought I would. The first 30 minutes when he is in Ohio trying to get people to come to the show were the most entertaining parts. Then they spend an inordinate amount of time exploring the oddness of this old hippie couple who live in this weird house near the stage area. After that it was like watching a party that you wish you were at, because something clearly didn't translate to film. The musical performances were good, but not great. Mos Def delivers a solid performance, but gets 3x as much screen time as everyone else, which seemed odd. Lauryn Hill has this hugely anticipated Fugees reunion only to completely butcher "Killing Me Softly". Jill Scott is awesome, but is singing songs that don't showcase her voice well at all. John Legend barely even plays in the concert. Erykah Badu was fantastic, but... why the wig? Dead Prez did a great show, I wasn't very familiar with them before this. The Roots kick ass, as always. I would suggest renting this when you have some paperwork to do. It makes a good background movie.