VividSimon Simply Perfect

SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

Lela The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Robert J. Maxwell Money corrupts and absolute money corrupts absolutely. Some of the lines go something like this. "I get my brains beat out and what I got for it? Two Rolls Royces!" "Well, that ain't bad." "But you got EIGHT!" It's a boxing satire in which opportunistic promoter Samuel L. Jackson, as a loud and beturbaned fakir, living in a gilded palace and surrounded by double-D trophies, decides that revenue is falling because nobody wants to pay to see two black guys beating each other up in the ring. The solution? Find some white guy who doesn't have a chance and match them up in Las Vegas.The white guy is Peter Berg, Golden Gloves champ from some years ago who has gone on to a career in heavy metal in Cleveland without ever having fought professionally. Being a rock star isn't as bad as it might be. After a set, back in his crowded dressing room, his assistants usher groupies in one at a time for his appraisal. He shakes his head twice and nods on the third try, and she goes down on him while Jackson makes his pitch.It's pretty amusing. Flagrant hypocrisy often is. Molière did it better in "Tartuffe" but this is no slouch. I laughed out loud, sometimes at business that was going on in the background. The non-Irish Berg enters the ring wearing a kilt, accompanied by "Danny Boy" on the pipes and a couple of dwarfs dressed as leprechauns. He's a Buddhist who is only fighting to relieve the "homeless situation in America and the United States as well." There are a lot of B stories and some of them are lost in the shuffle. Jon Lovitz disappears half way through. Some of the pauses for laughter are too long, suggesting the movie isn't quite as funny as its makers thought it might be. And it does go over the top with aimless slapstick at times.Yet it IS funny from time to time and if you can put up with a lot of noise and rushing around it's worth catching. None of the performances can be faulted.

FlashCallahan When the champions promoter, Rev. Sultan, decides something new is needed to boost the attraction of boxing, he searches and finds the only man to ever beat the champ. The problem is that he isn't a boxer anymore and he's white. However, once Rev. Sultan convinces him to fight, he goes into heavy training while the current champ takes it easy and falls out of shape....I'm guessing this film was only made to give the then relatively fresh Jackson trope a starring vehicle. After all, he was amazing in Pulp Fiction, DHWAV, and Fresh, but as a supporting role, rather than charge of a film.And the result is one of the most confusing things I have seen in a long time, and very boring to boot.So what we have here is Jackson showcasing his trademark yell in the guise of Don King, supported by a who's who of b-list actors, and a then quite famous Damon Wayans in a fat prosthetic.The film is a mix of Rocky III and The Naked Gun, but without the laughs or the thrill of decent pugilism. It doesn't have a message to give, other than if your greedy and try to take from the best, you will lose.There is some sub plot involving why a Black fighter is being usurped by Berg, but all that consists of is Jamie Foxx mugging, and Jackson laughing a lot.Goldblum is as great as always, but again, it's all about selling out, the wonderful message this film has.Be a sell out, become rich and arrogant, and you'll be famous.Only in America....

david-sarkies At first I was not interested in this film, but then I saw a preview of it and noticed that Samuel L. Jackson was playing one of his slimy characters I decided that I might give it a shot. It was only $1.50 a week at the video shop, so if I didn't like it then I would not have felt that ripped off. I remember when it was on in the cinemas. My sister had a free ticket and the only movie that we could see was this one. I decided not to and used my free ticket to see Independence Day. As I pull this movie apart, I will reveal a lot, so if you do not want to know what happens, read no further. Anyway, this was actually quite a good movie. As the title tells us, it is about hype. It is about manipulating things to gain money and power. The movie is focused around the Reverend (Samuel L. Jackson) who is the manager of a boxer known as Roper (Damon Wayans). Roper is the heavy weight champion but nobody is watching his fights because it is with other negros and as such boring, so the Reverend comes upon an idea of creating a great White boxer to take on Roper, and he comes up with a boxer who beat Roper when he was an amateur.The movie is about manipulation and how power does not fall. It is interesting to note that the Reverend is not defeated, rather he seizes on his opportunity to not only create a champion, but to keep the money rolling in. He tries to keep his champion happy, but Roper wants money, so he promises a fight, one with the white guy.This movie is incredibly well made because we all get caught up in the hype over the white boxer. He is little more than a heavy metal singer, but he beat Roper once and as such is the one who must confront Roper to make a great fight. Everybody believes the hype, and as such we get caught up in the hype. What adds to it is that we believe in the typical Hollywood ending where the White boxer wins and the Reverend becomes nothing. The end of this movie shows us that it is nothing more than hype as the White boxer is knocked out with one well placed punch and does not get up.It is also interesting to note that in this movie money makes everything. The Reverend has everybody under his belt, including the director of the boxing organisation, and what he says goes. When the investigative reporter walks in in his desire to blow the Reverend's sydicate open, he is thrown a job and money and instantly changes his morals. This movie shows us that morals collapse so easily with enough money, and that everybody has their price.This is a movie of corruption and manipulation, set in the decadence of Las Vegas. Okay I have probably given a lot away in this movie, but it is difficult to pull it apart without doing so.

lambiepie-2 First of all, this movie is funny. Even if you're not an insider to the world of boxing, this film makes many references you'll recognize and goes over the top with it and with some of the flamboyant people who have graced the sport.Then there is the whole idea of finding a white boxer, besides the obligatory "Rocky" that is, that people can get behind to breathe new life into the sport.Here you have every stereotype of that world thrown in from the promoters to the media personnel who made boxing what it is today -- Hype. Here is a promoter who is keeping his client from fighting the one guy who can actually beat him (hence ruin their meal tickets), to come up with someone else to make Hype and recover funds he already spent that he can't pay the boxing champ. That among other things. Samuel L. Jackson is fun to watch as is Jeff Goldblum and Jamie Fox and Damon Wayons as the over-hyped champ. Rounding this out is the usual bottom feeders played well by Jon Lovitz and Corbin Bernsen. This movie can be uneven at times, but overall its entertainment, and a sarcastic view into the boxing promotion world like no other. Two stars out of four.