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(About Our Ads) "BLACK AND WHITE" (2000) (Oli "Power" Grant, Brooke Shields) (R) Alcohol/ Drugs Blood/Gore Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude Frightening/ Tense Scenes Guns/ Weapons Moderate Mild Extreme Moderate Heavy Imitative Behavior Jump Scenes Music (Scary/Tense) Music (Inappropriate) Profanity Moderate None Mild Extreme Extreme Sex/ Nudity Smoking Tense Family Scenes Topics To Talk About Violence Extreme Moderate Minor Moderate Heavy QUICK TAKE: Drama: As a documentary filmmaker chronicles a group of white kids who act as if they're black, the urban gangster they idolize must deal with racism and a cop who wants to nail him. PLOT: Rich Bower (OLI "POWER" GRANT) is a powerful New York gangster who wants to leave the criminal world for the flashier one of becoming a hip-hop impresario. Yet, for all of Rich's criminal-based power, he discovers that as a "legit" black man he'll have to play in a white man's world. He and his right-hand man, Cigar (RAEKWON), learn this the hard way when a record producer rejects them based on their appearance and the producer's belief that crime follows the rap/hip-hop scene they're pursuing. Sam Donager (BROOKE SHIELDS) is an aspiring documentary filmmaker who wishes to investigate and record the phenomenon of white kids who act like they're black and adopt a certain stereotypical black lifestyle. As such, she and her bisexual husband, Terry (ROBERT DOWNEY JR.), beginning following a group of students, including Charlie (BIJOU PHILLIPS), Wren (ELIJAH WOOD), Raven (GABY HOFFMANN) and Will (WILLIAM LEE SCOTT), who's tight with Rich and just so happens to be the son of District Attorney Bill King (JOE PANTOLIANO). While Rich's lifestyle proves alluring to both Sam and the students she follows, the gangster's parties and get-togethers draw all sorts of people, from boxer Mike Tyson (MIKE TYSON) to up and coming basketball star, Dean (ALLAN HOUSTON), and his girlfriend, Greta (CLAUDIA SCHIFFER), who's big into social anthropology. Things seem fine until NYPD detective Mark Clear (BEN STILLER) attempts to trap and then blackmail Dean in an effort to get his buddy Rich. Soon, Clear's actions set into motion a series of unavoidable repercussions that will affect the lives of most everyone involved in this group. WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT? The hip-hop nature of the film might draw those already drawn to that lifestyle, but beyond those and anyone who might be a fan of someone in the cast, it's not likely that many kids will want to see this film. WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: R For strong sexuality, graphic language, some violence and drug use. Previously rated (NC-17). CAST AS ROLE MODELS: OLI "POWER" GRANT plays a powerful criminal who wishes to reinvent himself as a hip-hop impresario. Even so, he has his thugs intimidate local businesses and even orders one of them to murder someone. RAEKWON plays his right-hand man, a criminal and thug. BROOKE SHIELDS plays an aspiring documentary filmmaker who wants to chronicle a group of white kids who want to emulate black culture. She briefly uses some strong profanity. ROBERT DOWNEY JR. plays her bisexual husband who repeatedly tries hitting on various men. BIJOU PHILLIPS plays one of the young white kids who adopts a black demeanor (vocal patterns, dress) and uses strong profanity. ELIJAH WOOD plays another such student who gets upset when Charlie wants to spend time doing that at Rich's place rather than with him. WILLIAM LEE SCOTT plays another such student who's in tight with Rich, uses strong profanity and ends up murdering someone on command from Rich. BEN STILLER plays an undercover cop who uses strong profanity and twice tries to blackmail different individuals for his own gain. ALLAN HOUSTON plays a star basketball player who finally decides to throw a basketball game in exchange for a huge sum of cash. CLAUDIA SCHIFFER plays his girlfriend, an anthropology student who doesn't advise him against doing the above and sleeps with another man. SCOTT CAAN plays a young and local businessman who must contend with Rich's manipulative influence over local businesses. JOE PANTOLIANO plays the local district attorney who must contend with his sons who haven't grown up as he intended and get into trouble. MIKE TYSON plays himself, a boxer and friend of Rich's. CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit? Then read OUR TAKE of this film. (Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below). OUR WORD TO PARENTS: Here's a quick summary of the content found in this R-rated drama. Profanity is extreme due to more than 200 uses of the "f" word, along with plenty of other profanities and colorful phrases to go around. A person is murdered via a gunshot, others are threatened with guns, and other less volatile violence is also present. Some of those scenes may be tense to some viewers. Characters associated with them are criminals and thus exhibit extreme cases of bad attitudes (while various other characters exhibit varying degrees of other bad attitudes). Several sexual encounters are seen and/or implied, and include groping, some nudity and movement (including several instances of an implied or briefly seen ménage à trios). Sexually related dialogue, often explicit in nature, is also present, and a character is noted as being bisexual (he's married, but hits on men). Smoking, drinking and some brief drug use are also present, as is a soundtrack filled with rap songs containing objectionable lyrics. Finally, the film presents a group of white kids who try to emulate the rap/hip-hop/gangster black lifestyle and may prove to be of an imitative nature to impressionable kids. After that summary, should you still find yourself questioning the film's appropriateness for anyone in your home, you may wish to take a closer look at our more detailed content listings. ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE A husband and wife have wine with dinner. Charlie smokes what may be a joint. People have drinks in a bar. A man drinks liquor. After Wren accuses her of dumping him and the others in favor of hanging out with Rich, Charlie says that they were just sitting around, relaxing, and smoking some joints. People have drinks in a bar, including Charlie, Wren and others. Some people at a party drink while others smoke joints. Greta and Tyson have drinks (she wine, he a martini). BLOOD/GORE We see Rich standing at toilet and hear the sound of him urinating. We see some blood on the back of a shirt worn by a person who's just been shot. DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE Rich and his gangster associates obviously have bad attitudes (they also threaten some white men who've just opened a club and Rich puts out a hit on another man). A white record producer wants nothing to do with some black artists based on their appearance. Mark offers Dean money to throw a basketball game in which he's going to play, and Dean finally agrees to do that. Charlie is disrespectful to her father and later lies to Wren about her plans for the evening. One of the D.A.'s sons is disrespectful to him and his new wife. Rich cheats on his girlfriend. Mark blackmails several people for his own good. FRIGHTENING SCENES Some thugs threaten some young men who've just opened up a bar/club. One of them holds his gun to the other's chin. The thug's associates also carry guns. A man threatens another man with a gun, and eventually shoots and kills him with it. GUNS/WEAPONS Handguns: Carried and/or used to threaten or kill people. See "Violence" for details. IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR Phrases: "I don't give a f*ck," "Shut the f*ck up," "What the f*ck is going on?" "F*ck this," "You're f*cked," 'I'm f*cked," "Crazy sh*t," "You're full of sh*t," "Cum drinker/guzzler," "Nigger" (black/white people to black person) and "Niggaz" (what white kids call themselves), "Shut up," "Cracker" (for white people), "Bitch," "Chicks" (women), "Freaks," "Fag," "Take a piss," "Weird ass," "Balls" (testicles), "Big ass," "Nuts" (crazy) and "Scumbag." It's possible the film could cause white kids to want to imitate the hip-hop and/or black gangster lifestyle and/or speech. Sam has a stud pierced into one of her nostrils. JUMP SCENES None. MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE) A mild amount of suspenseful music plays in a few scenes. MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE) While many of the lyrics occurring in the many rap songs couldn't be understood (or occurred in the background under the characters' dialogue), we did hear several uses of the "f" and "s" words, along with "bitch," "nigger" and the repeated lyrics, "If you want this p*ssy, you can have that p*ssy," as well as "You can give me head in the parking lot." PROFANITY At least 215 "f" words (25 used with "mother," 3 used sexually, some occurring in songs), 93 "s" words, 11 slang terms for/using female genitals ("p*ssy"), 5 slang terms for/using male genitals ("d*ck" and "c*ck"), 18 asses (5 used with "hole"), 6 damns, 3 hells, 1 crap, 3 uses of "Oh my God," 2 each of "God" and "Swear to God" and 1 use each of "G-damn," "My God" and "Oh God" as exclamations. SEX/NUDITY We see three people - two women and one man -- involved in ménage à trios in the woods (with another man and some kids - not with that man - watching). As such, we see them standing in a "sandwich" position kissing and groping each other. We also see a bare breast, most of a woman's bare butt (in her thong-like bottom) and a woman with her legs spread (but nothing explicit). One woman appears to be kissing another woman's breast, the two women kiss, and one woman caresses the other's breast and then appears to be doing the same to her crotch. Rich and his friends talk about white misconceptions about black people including them "having bigger d*cks." Terry talks to some girls about "you'd rather have a girl eating your p*ssy" and "you don't want d*ck that night." They then talk about the origin of the word, "f*ck." One says it means fornication under the consent of a king. We see two women and one man in bed (we see various glimpses of part/most of their bare butts and some minor caressing, but no explicit activity). After Terry (who's gay or bisexual) comes on to Scotty, the latter belligerently asks him, "Do I have a sign on me that says, 'F*ck me?' or something?" Tyson calls Terry a "cum drinker." Greta shows some cleavage as she meets Rich in a hotel room (where she admires her view of him as he urinates). When she tells him about the predicament Dean's in and how it affects Rich, he says he might "have to do something" to his girl (Greta) and she then removes her top layer of clothing. During this, a song plays with the lyrics, "If you want this p*ssy, you can have that p*ssy" as the two of them make out with some groping. Although we don't see anything else, it's implied that they have sex. Mark asks Greta, "Are you f*cking Rich?" We see a woman's bare breast as she asks Rich, "You think I can't satisfy you by myself?" We see this woman on top of him (we see her bare back). Another woman then walks in on them and sees the two sitting up and apparently having sex. Terry calls himself a "cum guzzler" and then says, "I love c*ck" when breaking up with Sam (his wife). Making an anthropological statement, Greta talks about people in the past not associating the sexual act with having children. SMOKING Charlie and Mark smoke several times, while various other characters, including Rich, Will and other background/miscellaneous characters also smoke at least once. TENSE FAMILY SCENES The D.A. has a tense moment or two with his sons. TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT White kids who try to emulate a stereotypical black lifestyle (of the rap/hip-hop variety). Bisexuality (although Terry's married to Sam - a woman - he's repeatedly interested in men). Dean accepting the bribe to throw a basketball game. VIOLENCE A man pulls out a gun to make some kids run away (who are watching a ménage à trios in the woods). Some thugs threaten some young men who've just opened up a bar/club. One of them holds his gun to the other's chin. The thug's associates also carry guns. After Terry agitates Mike Tyson, the boxer slaps Terry and then grabs him by the throat and pushes him down to the floor. A man threatens another man with a gun, and eventually shoots and kills him with it. Greta slaps Mark. Sam throws a suitcase at a car. Reviewed March 20, 2000 / Posted April 5, 2000