The Great White Hype (1996)

One of the most underrated sports films ever
The amazon.com review for this film includes the line "While sharp and funny, it's never quite clear what the point of it all is." If this is all a GREAT WHITE HYPE viewer gets out of this movie, i'm afraid he/she just wasn't paying attention. While providing a nice satirical look at egomaniacal athletes and hustling boxing promoters (Sam Jackson is as brilliantly watchable as always here) throughout, the movie is all about how hype can make a non-event an event and the film's last ten minutes is the key. What, you were expecting a ROCKY denouement? In the end, this movie shows how sports fans -- and the entertainment-junkie public in general -- can be manipulated by loudness and money. Combined with Shelton's ever-sharp and fearless takes on America's racial tension (also see the brilliant WHITE MEN CAN'T JUMP), THE GREAT WHITE HYPE is well worth a watch. And a think thereafter.

The Bland White Hype
"The Great White Hype" is a satire all about boxing, with Samuel L. Jackson as the flamboyant,devious promoter. All cares about his $$$$,no matter how he gets it. He finds an alcoholic boxer who'd rather rock&"raise awareness about the homeless situation",tries to make him a champ, and promotes him as an Irishman (though he isn't)

To its credit, "The Great White Hype" is often done in the style of a mockumentary,and there's good acting. It mocks political correctness. The "Irish" boxer,Robert Conklin,refuses to wear white gloves... because it would be racist! The "champion" (Damon Wayans) watches the blaxploitation movie "Dolemite" before the pivotal fight. "Great White Hype" is more about celebrity cameos (Cheech Marin, Jeff Goldblum, Corbin Bernsen, Jamie Foxx, Jonathan Rhys-Davies) than a script with any substance. It's more of a "name that famous face" than follow the story.

"Great White Hype" attempts to be cutting satire-but it ends up dull.

Odd Movie...Indeed
This is an odd movie. One of the qualities it shares with other motion pictures is that its parts don't add up to a great whole. However, what I find odd is that the parts are without question hilarious. There are many scenes in this film that simply do not support any other part of the movie. None the less, they had me laughing so hard that my ribs were hurting.

The movie tries to parody the sport of boxing and in particular the careers of ex-heavyweight champion Mike Tyson and boxing promoter Don King. The mockery of the two aforementioned larger than life personalities is readily apparent so it doesn't require much explanation if any. Earlier I used the word "tries" in its attempt to lampoon boxing. It's ironic that the sport of boxing as it stands is so cartoonish, attempts to "send-up" the game pretty much fail. If you're a fan of boxing and you watch this movie, you'll know exactly what I mean. A few examples of failed ribbing include the governing body in the movie (the WBI) giving a fighter with NO PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE a number one ranking so that a title fight can be sanctioned, the worthy challenger being ducked in this movie (Marvin Shabazz) coming to a press conference and getting knocked out by the fighter with no experience and last but not least, a gun-toting manager in the ring after a prize fight has concluded. Every follower of the sport knows that these events are mild compared to what actually happens in the real life sport. Cases in point, real life boxing one ups the number one ranked fighter with no professional experience in that there's a well known case of a dead boxer consistently moving up the ranks for 2 years after his death. Real life boxing (and I should point out that the "real life" designation is used loosely) trumps the previously mentioned press conference knock-out by scores of press conference brawls. Finally, the gun-toting manager in the ring after the fight ends? Real life boxing has some of the wildest scenarios occuring before, during and after a fight has taken place. There are simply too many to mention but there have been brawls where managers use cell phones during attacks on the opposition causing full scale riots (Riddick Bowe vs. Andrew Golota II) and a fighter who lost becoming so enraged that he sucker punches the winner with his gloves off after the verdict has been read, gets arrested in the ring, is convicted and sent to jail(Richard Grant vs. James Bulter). I won't even mention "fan man" (Riddick Bowe vs. Evander Holyfield II). As you can see, boxing cartoons itself.

With that being said, the movie is still funny without adding up to much at all.