Rotten
Personal rather than social issues come to the fore in Mo' Better Blues, a Spike Lee personality piece dressed in jazz trappings that puffs itself up like Bird but doesn't really fly.
Variety Staff, Variety
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Mo' Better Blues
Overview
Talented but self-centered trumpeter Bleek Gilliam is obsessed with his music and indecisiveness about his girlfriends Indigo and Clarke. But when he is forced to come to the aid of his manager and childhood friend, Bleek finds his world more fragile than he ever imagined.
Director and cast
- Spike Lee Director
- Denzel Washington as Bleek Gilliam
- Spike Lee as Giant
- Wesley Snipes as Shadow Henderson (Sax)
- Giancarlo Esposito as Left Hand Lacey (Piano)
- Robin Harris as Butterbean Jones
- Joie Lee as Indigo
- Bill Nunn as Bottom Hammer
- John Turturro as Moe Flatbush
- Dick Anthony Williams as Big Stop Williams
- Cynda Williams as Clarke Bentancourt
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
71%
Tomatometer
Rotten
Though it's full of striking visual ideas and actorly turns, it never fully convinces.
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Rotten
Despite stylish camerawork and sturdy acting, this lengthy indulgence succeeds neither as jazz movie nor as cautionary tale.
Geoff Andrew, Time Out
Fresh
Mo' Better Blues is not a great film, but it's an interesting one, which is almost as rare.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Rotten
From characters to camera angles, this story of a self-absorbed jazz trumpeter is one long cliche, the kind that might make his most loyal admirers wince and wonder, 'Spike, what happened?'
Caryn James, New York Times
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