Black Dynamite (2009, Scott Sanders) (Patreon)

62/100

Blaxploitation spoofs represent the same challenge as trying to parody soap operas or Donald Trump: The original item is so cartoonishly exaggerated that it's doing most of the work for you. Found both Pootie Tang and Undercover Brother quite scattershot, and that's probably one reason (in conjunction with solid but unspectacular reviews) why I skipped Black Dynamite in theatrical release. Turns out it's likewise hit-and-miss, but with a stronger ratio of hits to misses. Since it's hard to write about this kind of comedy without compiling a laundry list of effective vs. ineffective jokes, lemme just go ahead and lean into that, starting with the stuff that doesn't work so well.

Zest for kung fu treachery

• Early on, I feared that the whole thing would be much too self-conscious. Shoddy low-budget filmmaking makes an easy target, and Sanders not only has Michael Jai White suddenly stand up out of frame at one point, then tilt up to reframe him with his head brushing a plainly visible boom mic, but also has White furtively glance up at the mic a couple of times, in case we might otherwise miss it. Had there been a lot of such rib-nudging, this would've been rough going. Thankfully, that's not the case.

• We get some gags that've been done to death, e.g. the guy on a mission who pulls out a photo of his wife back home, ensuring that he'll be killed seconds later. (That's a generic war-movie cliché, not a blaxploitation cliché, but still.)

• This is surely a matter of taste, but while I loved the ludicrously convoluted chain of reasoning by which Black Dynamite and his crew work out the secret of Anaconda malt liquor, starting from an unrelated casual remark, I wish it didn't lead to a tiny-dick joke. (Though I think I can make the scene work for my friend's clip party without including the grotesque prosthesis.)

• The climactic White House battle with Nixon doing martial arts is more silly than funny. 

On the flip side:

Knowledge of scientific biological transmogrification

• The "Dynomite!" theme song punctuating entrances, acts of violence, and sudden realizations somehow is never not funny despite truly getting beaten into the ground. It might even have become more hilarious in my head as I began imagining something similar occurring in other films. (Batman appears: "The Dark Knight! The Dark Knight!" Sun rises on the farm: "Silent light! Silent light!")

• Sanders does a superb job of replicating the zillion angles and quick cuts that novice directors use to make a foot chase look exciting. It's mockery of ineptitude that paradoxically demands some genuine skill. 

• "Dynomite! Dynomite!" notwithstanding, a lot of the best comedy benefits from judiciousness. It would have quickly gotten old had all or even several of the actors "accidentally" spoken the screenplay's stage directions; instead, only one does, infrequently enough so it's plausible that exchanges like "Lemme speak to the man in charge" "Sarcastically, I'm in charge" might have gone unnoticed on set. 

• Another quite subtle bit I enjoyed: When a cop shows Black Dynamite a photograph of the mob boss played by Mike Starr, it's a still that was obviously taken during the shooting of that character's sole previous scene in the movie, even though that makes no sense contextually. A clever touch that rewards close attention. Ribs nudged: 0.

• Sanders even has the confidence not to go in for a close-up when the chicken-and-waffles Eureka! moment arrives in mid-scene. Roscoe just yells "That's it!" and tears out the door in long shot, ignored by the others. And there's no followup. We're trusted to get it (though "chili and donuts" is a hard-to-miss setup). I always appreciate that. 

On balance, more fun than not. And White has just the right sensibility for the title role, mostly allowing the high concept to get the laugh rather than trying to be overtly comic himself. He legitimately looks Roundtree-esque.