Mo' Better Blues

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Mo' Better Blues

R,

1990,

2h 10m,

Drama/

Music

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Watchlist

73%

33 Reviews

Tomatometer

75%

5,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

73%

Tomatometer

33 Reviews

75%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

Financially irresponsible Giant (Spike Lee) manages a jazz group, but his sax player, Shadow (Wesley Snipes), wants to replace him with a better businessman. Bleak (Denzel Washington), the band's trumpeter, then tries to defend his close pal Giant, leading to a power struggle between the two musicians. Meanwhile, as Bleak tries to straighten things out with his bandmates and manager, he also must choose to be with either sweet teacher Indigo (Joie Lee) or sultry singer Clarke (Cynda Williams).

Critics Consensus

Mo' Better Blues is rich with vibrant hues and Denzel Washington's impassioned performance, although its straightforward telling lacks the political punch fans expect from a Spike Lee joint.

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Owen Gleiberman

Entertainment Weekly

Sep 7, 2011

B-

... At once alluring and disappointing.

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Charles Shaar Murray

Empire Magazine

Sep 22, 2008

4/5

It's tight, suspenseful, funny and packed with great music.

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Variety Staff

Variety

Sep 22, 2008

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.

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Megan Fisher

Loud and Clear Reviews

Sep 18, 2024

3.5/5

For all of its lush production design and complicated, sophisticated camera movements, Mo’ Better Blues is an intimate character study.

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Rene Jordan

El Nuevo Herald (Miami)

Nov 29, 2022

Perhaps the attractive part of the film is its stubborn imperfection. [Full review in Spanish]

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Rob Gonsalves

Rob's Movie Vault

Aug 31, 2022

B

Lee’s filmmaking is as alive as ever, though, and the movie is best when he’s just goofing around.

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Albus W

Sep 30, 2017

One of the better musicals about live music, and the lives of the musicians particularly concerning the protagonist's and his selfish approach to life.

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Hagrid M

Aug 24, 2017

What a great Spike Lee film. Mo' Better Blues follows a jazz musician named Bleek Gilliam (Denzel Washington) who is obsessed with his art, but because of that he starts down a path that breaks him away from the people that are closest to him. He has a problem with another band member in his quintet named Shadow Henderson (Wesley Snipes) which leads to issues with everyone on the band. Their manager Giant (Spike Lee) is Bleek's best friend since he was a kid, but as a manager he is absolutely terrible and is deep in gambling debts. Giant keeps telling the quintet that On top of all this Bleek is balancing his love life between two women Indigo (Joie Lee) a teacher and another woman named Clarke (Cynda Williams) an up and coming singer. He movie has a strong message about cause and effect and a bit about fate (which is foreshadowed early on). The movie is well acted. Washington and Snipes do great in this one. They have some arguments that are really realistic. I'm not the biggest fan of Spike Lee acting in his own films, but he does a good job here too. The movie does slow down a bit in the middle of the film, but after a tragic turn of events the movies last third works out very well. This is a well done drama that tells the story about a man who has everything he could ask for and how it comes crashing down. Definitely, give this one a look if you've never seen it!

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Hermione S

Aug 5, 2017

It concludes that Denzel's character is selfish rather than establishing that and showing how he truly changed. Decent.

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Spike Lee

Director

Denzel Washington

Bleek Gilliam

Spike Lee

Giant

Wesley Snipes

Shadow Henderson (Sax)

Joie Lee

Indigo Downes

Cynda Williams

Clarke Bentancourt

Mo' Better Blues: Official Clip - Save My Life, Please

2:44

Now Playing

Mo' Better Blues: Official Clip - The Mo' Better Blues

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Mo' Better Blues: Official Clip - Bleek's Trumpet Practice

2:37

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Mo' Better Blues: Official Clip - L-O-V-E

2:43

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Mo' Better Blues: Official Clip - Beaten to a Pulp

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Mo' Better Blues: Official Clip - Where's Our Money?

1:25

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Mo' Better Blues: Official Clip - Shadow & Clarke

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Mo' Better Blues: Official Clip - Grandstanding Sax Player

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Mo' Better Blues: Official Clip - You'll Play Again!

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Mo' Better Blues: Official Clip - What Did You Call Me?

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Now Playing

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Synopsis

Financially irresponsible Giant (Spike Lee) manages a jazz group, but his sax player, Shadow (Wesley Snipes), wants to replace him with a better businessman. Bleak (Denzel Washington), the band's trumpeter, then tries to defend his close pal Giant, leading to a power struggle between the two musicians. Meanwhile, as Bleak tries to straighten things out with his bandmates and manager, he also must choose to be with either sweet teacher Indigo (Joie Lee) or sultry singer Clarke (Cynda Williams).

Director: Spike Lee
Producer: Spike Lee
Screenwriter: Spike Lee
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Production Co: Universal Pictures, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks
Rating: R
Genre: Drama, Music
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 3, 1990, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 19, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $15.9M
Runtime: 2h 10m
Sound Mix: Dolby, Surround

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