Get on the Bus

Spike Lee's latest film has no characters. Instead, Get on the Bus follows a group of opposing racial, sexual, and gender attitudes. As a bus full of men (including Ossie Davis, Andre Braugher, Isaiah Washington, Charles Dutton, Thomas Jefferson Byrd, and Harry Lennix) travel from Los Angeles to Washington D. C. for the Million Man March, all we hear and see are conflicting viewpoints, which are not designed to develop character but used as a means to debate each issue from every possible angle. As a result, we don't care about the characters or their particular beliefs. Worse, Reggie Rock Blythewood's script always takes the moral highground, telling us what and how to think through overdone monologues. While the film's message is important--communities need to unite in order to solve problems--it's so pounded into our heads that we can only wish to escape. Miss the Bus. (L. Russo)