(rated R) Damon Wayans plays a Harvard educated TV writer in this blistering satire of network television’s pitfalls and prejudices from controversial cage-rattler Spike Lee. As a matter of fact, Lee feels compelled to include dialog of the dictionary definition of the word “satire.” Michael Rapaport plays a very white boss who must come up with a way to win over young hip audiences. Just as his show idea of jiving, tap-dancing actors succeeds, the actual movie nosedives. Wayan’s performs in his sarcastic but lesser “In Living Color” character, yet the movie’s failures aren’t exclusively Wayan’s fault. While Lee usually evokes passion, strong dialog and effective visuals to his political/cultural messages, this one fails on almost all levels, saturated in so much opinion, it’s almost an audience test in itself.
