Pootie Tang (2001)

Louis C.K conceived of the story which would become Pootie Tang on Long Island, where man, in the person of a crew of Dutch sailors, was placed "face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder." That was in the spring of 1924. He wrote most of it, though, in a villa above St. Raphaël on the Riviera, with Roman and Romanesque aqueducts within sight, and beneath a skyline that reminded him of Shelley's Eugenean Hills. There was a beach where he swam daily, and came to know a group of young French naval aviators. Otherwise, he worked steadily at what he jokingly spoke of to friends as "a script better than any script written in America." By late October the script was ready to be mailed to Maxwell Perkins, his editor at Scribner's.

He knew very well that Pootie Tang was far finer than anything he had attempted before. In April, on the eve of his departure for Europe, he told his limo driver "I cannot let it go out unless it has the very best I am capable of in it or even as I feel sometimes, something better than I am capable of." He would not be alone in that feeling; many would say that the novel possessed the "Fitzgerald" glamor, but also "a kind of mystic atmosphere at times." They may have been remembering C.K's words in that April letter: "So in my new script I'm thrown directly on purely creative work—not trashy imaginings as in my stories but the sustained imagination of a sincere yet radiant world."

Fmovies: This is a film for those who have a warped sense of humor. Luckily for me, I fit into that category. If you enjoy films by Monty Python, Mel Brooks, Abrahams and Zucker, the Wayans Brothers or the Farrelly Brothers than this film is for you. It's odd, outlandish and dare I say, ahead of it's time. It not only features appearances by some of comedies best stand ups but future stars who had yet to shine. Written as a collaborative effort between Chris Rock and Louis C.K. this style of collaboration is a throw back to the days of "Blazing Saddles" written by Mel Brooks and THE Mr. Richard Pryor. To the casual viewer of middle age this film may seem nonsensical or as some have said downright dumb. Herein lies the problem, why some "get it" and some "dont get it". Though released over 14 years ago some people who may have been "out of the loop" then and whom today are still out of the loop and without a proper sense of zeitgeist will be watching this film saying "Wtf ?". The same can be said for classics such as "Airplane The Movie !" or any other films made by the creators I listed earlier. This type of humor relies heavily on the viewers knowledge of the pop culture he lives in even if said viewer is unaware of it. I'm not going into the movie or what it's about, I just wanted to try to explain why some people love it and some people hate it. If you were around in the 90s and enjoyed "In Living Color", "The Young Ones", "Beavis and Butthead", or even "SNL" or "South Park" I would say give this gem a chance.

It's easy to pick out what people would object to in this movie. It really is little more than a sketch comedy bit extended to 80 minutes, it really only has one joke and it really is pure silliness. But I thought it was really funny. Some of it, like Pootie's defending himself with his braid, was even brilliantly silly. Having seen it three days ago, I have already forgotten virtually the entire movie, but I thoroughly enjoyed it at the time, and my girlfriend, who is less tolerant of pure silliness than I am, laughed throughout. It did run out of momentum a little as it went along, with a great first half hour followed by diminishing returns on that one joke, but there was enough fun through to keep us watching. 7/10

Pootie Tang fmovies. Pootie Tang actually can be looked at as a parable, an allegory of a messianic figure. How's that for making a purse out of a sow's ear? Consider: A powerful figure roaming around doing good deeds, speaking in a puzzling language that only believers understand, attended to by his apostles, befriending prostitutes. Suffering from inner demons he retreats to the wilderness (the farm) and experiences an epiphany through the physical manifestation of his creators, going back and finally confronting and conquering the demons. (Dirty D = Dirty Devil)Along the way he even awakens the dead (the knife wielder at the club), banishes a horde of false prophets (all the fake Pooties), and can bring people to rapture through sheer silence alone. Whew. Heady stuff. Sa Da Tay!

First time I saw a scene of it on cable here in Brazil I could understand a single word! Then I start to pay attention on them and also on the translation. It was doubled funny to me! The words in English are completely crazy and in Portuguese even craziest! I could barely see the rest of the movie because I could not stop laughing!!

If you just want fun: go ahead!

I'm not saying that Pootie Tang will be for everyone, but for those interested, it is really a gas. Pootie Tang was originated on Chris Rock's HBO show with Crouther playing Tang as the new president elect Pootie Tang telling his campaign in lingo that almost no one could understand but it was still dead pan. Now, he has a movie.

Lance Crouther plays the title character in a short yet entertaining movie about a hero with a belt that helps him against the forces of evil, plus his gift of saying things that have no meaning whatsoever (like ebonics mixed with down syndrome, but it's funny). Chris Rock (in 3 equally hilarious roles), Robert Vaughn and Wanda Sykes also star in this movie with it's only damaging flaw being that after a while it runs out of steam. Worth a look. B+