The Original Kings of Comedy

Filmed by Spike Lee at a sold-out, stadium-sized comedy concert in Charlotte, NC, The Original Kings of Comedy is a snapshot of black humor (as in African-American) in the year 2000. But while the picture bats better than .500 in the laughs department, it lacks any of its director's distinctive panache. Standup comedians Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley, Cedric "The Entertainer" and Bernie Mac wax jocular and lewd about the usual array of comedy targets from jobs and church to sex (and more sex and more sex) and kids, as well as the differences between what white folks and black folks do in various situations. Sometimes they're funny, sometimes not--which is why this feels like a middling HBO comedy special, rather than a movie. Not a necessary purchase. (R. Blackwelder)