Hellen I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

TaryBiggBall It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

tavm Having just watched Do the Right Thing, I'm now reviewing Spike Lee's follow-up Mo' Better Blues which I also watched on YouTube. Spike plays Giant, manager to Bleek Gilliam (Denzel Washington) whose jazz band is the hottest in the club. One of those band members is Shadow Henderson (Wesley Snipes) who sometimes gets in conflict with Bleek over creative and other matters. One of those other matters is singer Clarke Bentancourt (Cynda Williams) who wants Bleek to hire her but he won't though that doesn't mean he won't share his bed. She's not the only one as another lady named Indigo Downes (Joie Lee, Spike's sister) also sleeps with him. That causes another conflict. I'll stop there and just say that while I liked the drama, it does seem to be a bit rushed toward the end. Still, it was enjoyable enough and the score by Spike and Joie's father Bill (who cameos near the end) was excellent. Also enjoyable was hearing Brandford Marsalis (dubbing Snipes' saxophone) and Terence Blanchard (Wahington's trumpet) during the musical interludes and Ms. Williams' singing was also fine. Now I've read and heard some debate about the portrayal of Jewish club owners Moe and Josh Flatbush (John and Nicholas Turturro) as stereotypical but I didn't notice or maybe I just wasn't aware so I wasn't distracted in any way. So on that note, Mo' Better Blues gets a recommendation from me. P.S. I thought it quite enjoyably bizarre to hear Samuel L. Jackson as his DJ Daddy Love character from Do The Right Thing and then seeing him as the bully character Madlock.

st-shot Things get dull early an often in this in this mawkish jazz bio fiction written and directed by Spike Lee.Bleek Gilliam (Denzell Washington) is a happenin' jazz trumpeter that fronts a quintet packing them in at Below the Underdog. His problems include an incompetent manager, a stage hogging sax player and two girlfriends that he's playing musical mattress with. The real love of his life though is his trumpet and his music. The band's manager, Giant, has a dangerous gambling problem and proves to be an ineffective negotiator with greedy club owners and would be best jettisoned but Bleek remains loyal for as long as possible. It will prove to his undoing as an artist but ironically contribute to his growth as a man.As Bleek, Denzell Washington is all wrong as the ambitious trumpeter with a babe on each arm. He's too sweet a guy to be so self centered about his art, dispensing patience and love to those close to him with a low key remoteness. He simply lacks the fire. Wesley Snipes who plays Henderson the sax player would have been far more suited for the role but even he would have to mouth the flaccid throw away scribblings of Lee's torpid dialogue. As Giant, Lee hits the trifecta with an abysmal performance to match his writing and direction. Loosely attempting to mirror the grubby but sympathetic Ratso Rizzo to Bleek's Joe Buck he adopts a limp and even the "I'm walkin' here" moment from Midnight Cowboy. In this case you wish the taxi would run him over and be done with it.Lee's script is all tepid argument, heavy handed ribbing and veiled insult with some requisite clumsy editorializing that Lee has to inject to remain down. The scenes between the band members backstage and in rehearsal lack spark and are only surpassed in dreariness by the Bleek, Giant conversations that have an ad lib look and go in circles. Completing this travesty is Lee's pretentious visual style. Tracking shots, zooms and pans are wasted and without significance to scenes. They just wander.Blues is Lee's love letter to jazz (made implicit by the mountains of memorabilia plastered all over the sets) and it's all sentimental clap trap that lacks passion and verve. Jazz on film is better served by Tavernier's "Round Midnight" and Eastwood's "Bird" which get below the surface, reveal more sides of the form, the pain behind it in addition to offering infinitely superior lead performances by Forrest Whitaker and the real deal Dexter Gordon. This Spike Lee Joint doesn't even offer a mild buzz. It's some pretty bad homegrown.

jzappa In Spike Lee's fourth film, Denzel Washington proves early in his career that he is capable of being funny and romantic in a more modest film than Glory or Cry Freedom, the music is breezy and romantic and consistent, jazzy and colorful cinematography, and another characteristic Spike Lee touch, which is his gift for drawing from his actors stunningly realistic performances. In some ensemble scenes, the dialogue seems like improvisation. Maybe it is.Mo' Better Blues is a good, steady, effective drama, a portrait of a complex and overwrought musician and the indecision and jealousy that gradually eat away at his life, but it lacks the passion and brazen provocative nature of nearly all of Spike Lee's other films.The cast, once again, is brilliant. Denzel is very very very authentic, faithful, graphic, and lifelike. My brother is a jazz musician and I've met several of his fellow musicians. I'm seasoned when it comes to jazz musicians. Take my word for it, Denzel's performance is entirely true. Snipes is brilliantly, swaggeringly audacious. Joie Lee comprehensively draws our sympathy towards her sensitive, self-conscious character and away from the elegant and subtly compelling Cynda Williams. Spike Lee himself is one of the most compelling characters. Samuel L. Jackson entertains in one of his millions and billions of early bit roles.If I were to say, "I'm in the mood for a Spike Lee joint," this would not be one of the first films I pick, but it's different and enthralling. I mean, it's directed by Spike Lee, so how can it not be?

DunnDeeDaGreat Denzel Washington and Spike Lee remind me of Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi when it comes to actors and directors.This is the first film they worked on together and it was a success. The storyline and music are all great and Spike continues to make good movie. I give this film ***8 out of ****.