If Sucka were released today, Wayans would be blacklisted by the Woke Nazis as a sellout who “makes it safe for white racists to laugh at black stereotypes,” a criticism that defanged Chris Rock permanently and Dave Chappelle for at least a decade. In the same way Mel Brooks satirized his own Jewish culture and Lear satirized the working class - and both did so by mixing love with criticism - Wayans satirizes urban black culture, which is something you just aren’t allowed to do today. So what makes Sucka so gloriously inappropriate and problematic? A very young Chris Rock’s blazing talent is already on display as a rib joint customer gone-too-soon comedian Robin Harris ( Bebe’s Kids) plays a bartender, and the talented Wayans family pops up just about everywhere. Also on board are Clarence Williams III, Ja’net Dubois, and Steve James (as scene stealer Kung Fu Joe). Those aging badasses are a number of legitimate blaxploitation legends: Bernie Casey, Jim Brown, Antonio Fargas, and Isaac Hayes (who is hilarious). Big (John Vernon), and does so with the help of some aging badasses - local legends who once kept the neighborhood safe before they went soft. And so Spade sets out to make things right and avenge his brother by targeting the local “chain lord,” Mr. (“over gold,” the act of wearing so many gold chains you die), Jack Spade (Wayans) leaves his military career and comes home to Any Ghetto U.S.A. Like the genre he affectionately spoofs, Sucka’s plot is beautifully simple: After his younger brother dies of O.G. Sucka is an Airplane-style spoof of blaxploitation movies, a joke-a-second offering where Wayans - knowing this was probably his shot at a Big Career - goes completely for broke. Wayans writes, directs, and stars in I’m Gonna Git You Sucka and, in doing so, single-handedly revived the gloriously inappropriate and problematic genre that once made America great. This success gave Wayans the chance to make his own movie, an opportunity he seized with both hands. Wayans co-starred, and while Shuffle was produced for next to nothing and a decade ahead of its time, it still made money and found a whole new wave of lifelong fans (including me) on cable TV. Hollywood Shuffle is a minor masterpiece - a withering, hilarious, touching, and angry (but never mean-spirited) satire about the indignities of being a black actor in a Hollywood culture that’s only looking for pimps, hookers, junkies, and “Eddie Murphy types.” Everything changed after he teamed with his friend (and underrated genius) Robert Townsend to write Hollywood Shuffle (1987). With the all-important torch of inappropriate comedy just lying around waiting to be picked up, along came 29-year-old Keenan Ivory Wayans and his modest hit and cult-classic, I’m Gonna Git You Sucka.īy 1988, Wayans had spent the better part of a decade working his way up the show-biz ropes as a standup comedian and sometime actor. Saturday Night Live was still working out of its mid-80’s doldrums. George Carlin had become an elder statesmen. Mel Brooks’ next movie would be Life Stinks. Eddie Murphy was about to move into his Boomerang/ Distinguished Gentlemen phase. By the time 1988 rolled around, the giants of edgy comedy had lost some of their edge.
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