Highly Overrated But Still Good

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.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

I thought that the movie started off being very humorous then slowly became more and more serious as it went on; heading towards the finish line it felt to me almost like a documentary on race and the consequences of racism and its inevitable reaction.The acting was generally very good, as were the production values and the story idea. I have watched Black-ish and am not sure if it is my imagination or not, but there seems to be a rise of race motivated comedy and satire: towards the end of the Obama-era and heading into Trump-time.As a Limey, I found the film hard to follow at points, due the large amount of American cultural references.I would say that it would not be everyone's' cup of tea and probably doesn't translate too well outside of the USA; but apart from that most American adults would probably find the film worth having a look at.

Some thoughts: (1) The filmmakers do far too much hiding of their own opinions in the various opinions presented here. (2) I bet however, that they do believe things like "black people can't be racist". Exposing the ever-self-serving corresponding absurdity, being as simple as looking up the word "racist" in the damn dictionary. Instead of putting up a highly-specialized/strawman definition, only to pretend that it's THE definition. (3) There are actual slaves in the world. Right now. Millions of them. Moreover, even in the US, there is both very real slavery and very real racism. Not dumb college kids responding to faux-civil-rights-crusader bait and wearing some dumb costumes at some dumb private party. No. People are actually being forced away from their health and freedom based on race and class - in the US - as we speak. Black people, brown people, Asian people, even white people (see: Eastern European sex trafficking), etc. Exceedingly few of these grim realities, have very much to do at all - with what's depicted here. And if one is really concerned about such matters - one would find a way to reflect (at least SOME of) them in one's film. If however, one is selfishly concerned instead with the minutiae of one's own exceedingly-privileged (by world and even US standards) existence, while wanting to disguise oneself as a hard-issue-tackler - one would make a film just like this. (4) And if burying one's head this far up one's own rectum is an absolute must - I'd at least ask that there's a clear corresponding point. Which brings us back to (1) above.(5) Perhaps I'm being too harsh, but when people pretend to care about higher ideals, while their efforts are all too obviously aimed instead at merely serving themselves - I have trouble seeing anything else. Whether it's Fox News with their constant cry-bullying. Or what madness Nazi atrocities and such have been used to justify in the middle East. Or such, admittedly-milder, yet all-too-similar cases.

The most intriguing aspect of this film is not the film itself but the public's reaction to it. From multiple message boards I saw questions like if this is racist, a new Do the Right Thing, or if this film is even needed. From there it is clear that this film is doing something right. A great film does not try to make you agree with the issue but it raises the correct questions. It does not matter the answer the viewers got from the film as long as the viewers are asking the questions. After this film I too asked a lot of questions about race, and not about black cultures but of all different ones. The film does a really good job of balancing the four main characters, and while sometimes the characters seem more stereotypical, there are also couple of quirky aspect there as well that balances it out. Tessa Thompson as Sam White is the centerpiece of the movie, and she excels in her job as she does not overshadow the other characters but often compliments them. Lionel Higgins played by Tyler James Williams plays a very lovable character that faces not one, but two different prejudices. However in the film his skin colour dominates his sexual orientation making this feel more like a gimmick than a fully realized character sketch. Kyle Gallner as Kurt Fletcher and Teyonah Parris as Coco Conners rounds off the main characters and they too felt authentic in their role. Kurt's subplot with his father was very real but Coco's problem about wanting to be white felt so superficial. There is a lot of quirky shots as well, and for the first ten minutes I was hooked by it's use of documentary style shots of the various campuses throughout the school. Unfortunately the unique style dissipates after a while, and the film whilst beautiful filled with unique shots never goes back to the quirky, almost meta style it had before. I wish that the level of ingenuity remained throughout the movie. Overall the movie is fun and has different styles to keep you entertained and in the end you will want to ask all the right questions while leaving with very different answers.

Despite its title, this film is really not about white people per se – well, it is, but this is not where it is at its strongest. The narrative is formed form the news stories we have all seen of blackface frat parties which, at best, could be described as insensitive; the film uses such 'insensitivity' as part of its story but really this does feel like a device just to give the film a point to build to and through. Actually story is probably the film's weakest element, and there isn't a wholly satisfying arc to the film as a whole. Instead though the film is best as it explores the black experience of those students in the film.As such the film is surprisingly nuanced for a satire, because as biting as it is, and as usual in making points as its characters are – it doesn't really ever feel like it is caricature but rather they come over as people, with complexity, confusion, and a general sense of not really knowing where/how they should be. As I am neither black nor American, I can't say how true to real life this is, but the film certainly convinces with this world. Impressively the film manages to do this within a package of slick delivery, snappy and funny dialogue, and effective satire. It is far from perfect though, and the overall narrative is not really what sticks in the mind, even if the characters do. The cast deliver on this well thanks to the good writing; Williams, Thompson, Parris, Dobies, and Bell, lead the cast well – with Thompson, Williams, and Parris in particular making good on the promise of the material.It isn't a film that will hit the mark with everyone, and it does have those issues in the story; however it is stylishly presented, smartly written, funny, slick, and engaging throughout.