The “inexplicable” movie Roger Ebert called a trainwreck: “Not in a releasable condition”
You might think we culture journalists sit with our triggers on the finger, desperately waiting to unload both barrels on an artist who under-delivers. But contrary to popular belief, bad reviews aren’t the toxic source of fun you might have been led to believe.
See, the very reason we pursued this career is for our enthusiasm in experiencing great art, and so, largely speaking, we want more of that. We sit through the opening credits of whatever film may come our way next, hoping that it will provoke a positive response in some way, and so bad reviews are taken a lot heavier than you might expect.
The fury with which Roger Ebert writes about Pootie Tang, however, would have you believing otherwise and stepping back into the belief that a bad review write-up is a fervent source of journalistic joy. Ebert respects the fact that the point of a review is to provide a window of truth between the art and the viewer, and so when Pootie Tang so miserably fails in creating impact, he was left with no option but writing a review that says as much.
The brainchild of comedian Louis CK, Pootie Tang was adapted from a comedy sketch on HBO’s The Chris Rock Show, which may well have been the first indication that it wasn’t robust enough for a feature-length film. It follows the lead, who, for all intents and purposes, is a rather charming and alluring musician/actor who has risen from humble beginnings to proudly represent his community. When the evil powers of corporate America try to co-opt his image and peddle addictive products to the masses, Pootie Tang must prevail in order to protect said community.
On the surface, it’s not an awful storyline and follows a relatively tried and tested David vs Goliath model. A model which is particularly apt when viewed through the lens of American capitalism. But despite being released 20 years prior to the fact, Pootie Tang watches like a series of quotable TikToks stitched together. Its genesis from a sketch show is relatively obvious and fails to make any sort of narrative impact.
It was well spirited but wildly misguided, which, for a critic like Ebert, is essentially journalistic cannon fodder. He wrote, “Pootie Tang is not bad so much as inexplicable. You watch in puzzlement: How did this train wreck happen? How was this movie assembled out of such ill-fitting pieces? Who thought it was funny? Who thought it was finished? For that matter, was it finished?”
Ebert continued, “Anyway, I’m not so much indignant as confused. Audiences will come out scratching their heads. The movie is half-baked, a shabby job of work. There are flashes of good stuff: a music video in the closing titles, some good songs on the soundtrack, Lance Crouther heroically making Pootie Tang an intriguing character, even though the movie gives him no help. This movie is not in a releasable condition.”
The film tanked at the box office, grossing a meagre $3million and has gone on to be considered as one of the worst films of all time. Luckily, the box office failings and Ebert’s scathing analysis were enough, as it managed to escape the immortal clutches of a famed Razzie award.
