“DAVE CHAPPELLE’S BLOCK PARTY” (2005)

Starring: Dave Chappelle, Mos Def & Cody Chestnutt
Written by Dave Chappelle
Directed by Michel Gondry

Polly Staffle Rating: ***

Dave Chappelle is throwing a block party with live music and everyone is invited. Best of all, it is free! No one, but Dave and his people know where the event will be, but wait in line and get your ass on one of his busses and they will haul you to a little corner in Brooklyn where you will see a modern day Woodstock event featuring a who’s who lineup of African American artists. Wait, no, actually me and you and everyone else, except a couple of thousand lucky bastards already missed the festivities. It was two years ago. But you can pay to see bits and pieces of it and get a behind the scenes look at how he pulled the whole thing off in “Dave Chappelle’s Block Party.”

This is not “Chappelle’s Show” with Tyrone the crack head and Rick James messing up someone’s couch with dirty boots, so don’t go expecting that. It’s a documentary. Yes, a funny documentary, but still a pretty weird film to explain. There is almost brilliance to it, but at the same time I keep asking myself, “what is the point?” Is it someone trying to cash in on Chappelle’s infamy? That’s exactly what I thought early on during the movie, but somehow this hodgepodge of Chappelle goofing off, giving away tickets, playing basketball, pulling strings and talking to people, mixed with clips from what ended up being a “black jam band” concert featuring a fusion of funk, rap, R&B, rock and more, grew on me. Mostly due to Chappelle and his ability to improvise with hilarious results. In fact it’s his staged humor that is lacking here. When he is just himself though, he is brilliant. There is some good music as well. But each time you get hooked into a particular artists’ vibe, the film switches to something else.

I’ve never been too big of a fan of any of the music on display and was still thoroughly impressed with Mos Def, The Roots, Dead Prez and Eryka Badu. Oh yeah, Kanye West and Lauryn Hill are also here. Fans of any of these artists will get to enjoy the film more than I did, but I can still appreciate it. Especially a scene where Badu creeps onto the stage to perform a duet, unbeknownst to everyone, with Jill Scott. I wanted to see more of them together. When I found out Cody Chestnutt was in the film, I was excited to see and hear him perform, but it is unclear if he ever played the actual concert. We do hear two songs from him. Both are in a casual setting with Chappelle. A casual performance and talk by Wyclef Jean to a college marching band was another favorite of mine. As he was wrapping up with them, he said don’t blame the white man for your problems. Even the ghetto has libraries, he said. He added English was his third language and he was able to come to this country and make something of himself, so anything is possible.

By the end of this film, I guess you could say it is aiming to inspire. But all I could ever keep thinking was, “Wow, Chappelle was more powerful than I ever thought. Why the hell did he go and screw with that?” There are a number of cool things Chappelle does in the film that can be seen as him showing off to make himself look good, but I think it was out of the goodness of his heart. Three days before the concert, while he is beginning to shoot footage for his documentary, he supposedly bumps into the Central State University marching band holding a rehearsal. They play proudly in the background while he screams out the opening credits with a megaphone. He then invites them to come to the concert and march through Bed Stuy all on his tab. Needless to say that does end up happening and the Marching Marauders perform West's “Jesus Walks” to open the event. You will see this unfold and even more tricks up Chappelle’s sleeve.

When someone is so good in a particular field that nobody in their right mind can deny it, they can unify people without even trying. Michael Jordan made the nation fans of the Chicago Bulls in the 90’s. Quentin Tarantino made even the most closed-minded of people laugh at sadistic and violent situations with “Pulp Fiction.” And one that is even true about me, Bo Jackson made even non baseball fans want to watch him play to see if he would climb up a wall, break a bat over his knee or go crazy and hit a homerun his first at bat of an all-star game. Chappelle had that same power. His comedy breaks down racial lines and makes just about anyone laugh at the stupidest things like “I’m rich bitch.” Now the question is, will he be able to make a comeback like Jordan and Tarantino both did?

There’s a scene near the end of the film with one of the drum major’s of the marching band quoting Eminem’s song “Lose Yourself.” He said something along the lines of when you have that one chance make sure and grab it and hold on to it. I just wish Chappelle would have taken the advice. My guess is this film will be loved by some and hated by others. I’m somewhere in the middle, but with Chappelle’s name attached this documentary was able to get huge distribution. A documentary about a celebrity holding a concert of his favorite artists. This would be like if I ever was famous and held a concert featuring some of my favorites - Hanson, Vanilla Ice, Rockwell, Boy George and a reunion of the living members of Acid Bath. These aren’t my absolute favorite artists, but they are they are all in the top 50. Now do you think my film about me putting on this concert, even if I was as famous as Gary Coleman, would fly? Told you Chappelle has power. He says in the film that “old people” love him and you know you are doing something right when you have positives in that demographic.

Perhaps his power could have been used for better purposes like feeding the homeless, helping the exploited or fighting for truth and justice. But then again, he is an entertainer and their job is to help us forget all that pain and suffering. The question now is, will he be able to fully get that power back? The public is able to forgive, but they never forget. Chappelle now has one strike against him. Regardless of what happened between him and Comedy Central or what happened within himself, he still has his first strike. Trust me Dave, we all hate our jobs and know what it feels like to want to tell everyone to go screw themselves and we all have the urge to get the hell out of town. Most of us don’t have that luxury and if it meant given up $50 million, we mostly definitely would never do it. So basically things must have been bad in some way. But a strike is still a strike. Mike Tyson came back from his rape prison term to fight again. He was greeted with open arms and loved and hated like he was never gone. A grocery list of strikes later – eating Evander Holyfield’s ear, a facial tattoo among other things - he is seen as a joke to many and the image from his golden boy days are heavily tainted.

Ricky Williams received strike one when he hauled ass out of Miami for a short early retirement. Though he has shown he could start for plenty of NFL teams, his days seem extremely numbered. But if Chappelle makes us laugh and doesn’t head for the hills anytime soon, I’m sure all will be well with his fans. It was definitely nice to see him seem so relaxed and comfortable in “Block Party,” having the time of his life. There were no, “I quit” jokes like on season two of his television show. He is simply here doing what he does best – being himself.

- CCF, March 2006