Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
amazing commentary on america as it stands today, April 11, 2000
Reading paper magazine, i come across an interview with the writer/drector of this movie, hiphop activist Danny Hoch. "It's a sad day in America when the middle class buys certain clothes because they are symbols of wealth that the poor appropriated from the rich." While the previous reviewer may understand the dynamics of where these kids grew up better than I, it seems that he may not fully grasp the intentions of the movie. This movie talks about aspirations of the American youth, clouded by popular culture. Looking at the fake music video that they make, we see the bizzare thoughts that run through the heads of these three misguided youth. any one who is interested in pop culture, racism, ghetto problems, hiphop, the downward slide of hiphop(perpetuated by puff daddy), politics in america, masculinity, feminity, race relations in America, Class and class relations, poor blacks, poor whites, drug culture,or education, should see this movie. while I know that this is a very large area, if you are a progressive young, politically active person, you SHOULD see this movie. there is no way around it. This movie should come with thousands of footnotes, it rides on the backs of sociology, anthropology, ethnography, and every thing in between, and has a good story to boot.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Hometown Homies, September 15, 2005
This movie is an excellent take on the ignorance of white farm kids who want to be black, wanna be thugs, and gangsta rappers. As an indie flick, the film lacks some of the sharpness one might expect but here it works in the film's favor. There is a sense of reality there, Flip just doesn't live in that reality. He wears an Iowa Hawkeye, Tim Dwight's in fact, football jersey, lives on a farm in Iowa, and is totally attracted to the bling and light of the rap game. As ridiculous as this seems to those outside of the midwest, this is more common than one might think.
I'm from Iowa, and in fact, this film was shot on location in and around my hometown of Davenport, Iowa, and the Quad Cities. I knew people like Flip and their struggle for acceptance and identity. Quite a few of my friends were in the film as minor characters and extras, and my ex-mayor was the curly headed police officer. There are lots of external shots of the Quad City area, Davenport's riverfront, Muscatine, and a shot of a close friend's award winning grafitti in Davenport that was in the Cabrini Green sequence (Nelly posed in front of a mural he did in a St. Louis graf competition for his first album and is on the inner sleeve). The reality is that Flip's farm neighborhood is on the outskirts of the Davenport area, which is one of the largest cities in Iowa and has it's own urban culture, like many smaller cities in America.
Being from there brings this film in perspective as a search for culture and acceptance. As a teacher and coach, and an ex-Iowan, I knew people who yearned for something new while others went along with this type of charade until they realized how ridiculous it is to act black. The funny moments are endless though, the horrible raps, the "representin'", the outfits, and the dream sequences and cameos. This is a movie that seems to grow on you with a ridiculous but somewhat serious message behind it all. I mean Snoop, Slick Rick, and Doug E. Fresh make appearances! Show this one to the people who you might know that fake the funk.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a lot of heart, May 16, 2001
This is one of the funniest movies i have ever seen!It stars danny hoch,dash mihok,mark webber and the gorgeous piper perabo(from cayote ugly fame)they play teens from iowa who bored with their life start acting like they are black, rapping and fantasizing about living in the ghetto.Although some people might get offended i think that what the movie is trying to get across is that maybe we (blacks and whites)have too many generalizations about each other based on television and videos (all blacks are poor all whites rich,all rappers live in the hood. And poor neighborhoods and jail are fun places to hang out)This movie was Hilarious,deep,and also sad. All in all i think this was a great movie and would recommend this to anyone.The ending tragically shows what happens when we try to go out and find out what is really "real" without starting with ourselves.
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