I am writing here because all of her other comments sections are closed.

I just gotta ask this, Ms. Zacharek: You really like I Am Legend more than There Will Be Blood? I mean, c'mon, that is just horrible. Seriously?

I Am Legend is absolute nonsense, just empty, pro-faith, mindless jibberish. I'll be amazed if you look back on these two reviews years from now and don't wince. Yikes.

Yeah I'm bullish on Tracy Morgan, but as for Ice Cube...not so much. He's be the ultimate sellout, the former memeber of NWA doing crappy movies like Are We Home Yet or whatever that thing was called, with CGI squirrels. Please. But Tracy, I await nothing but hi-larity, in better vehicles than this one apparently is.

I'm not watching another movie with a predominately black cast until black actors decide not to act in movies where they are required to portray stereotypical shuffling, mumble-mouthed, bug-eyed, criminal degenerates. Soul Plane anyone?

That's a line from 30 rock, btw, said by Tracy Morgan.

Tracy Morgan is friggin hilarious. He somehow manages to be hyper-active and kinetic and just plain crazy without being annoying like Chris Tucker. I love Alec Baldwin on 30-rock, but every once in awhile Tracy Morgan will just tear it up, especially that whole bit last season when he was running from the Black Crusaders because he was going to star in a sequel of Fat Bitch. Which kind of goes with notimpressed whole criticism of this movie. (I think notimpressed would certainly be a member of the Black Crusaders...hehe)

I think the whole "minstrel" show school of acting has become such a part of the way that black comedians act in movies (over the top, crazy, bug eyed) that it's become our particular humor. It's just like the schlubby neurotic jew or the uptight wasp; at least nowadays it's black folks playing black folks. No white actor would even think about wearing black face (though two black actors might think about wearing white face and becoming women)

I don't know if you've seen many of the faith-based plays by Tyler Perry or David Talber for that matter, the guy who directed this movie,the acting is always exaggerated. Maybe like the word "nigger" we've re-appropriated certain racist stereotypes about the way black folks act (and I'm sorry, there is grain of truth in some of the characterizations) and made them a source of humor. Certainly, in the 50% black city I live in, First Sunday will be packed tonight. And the black folks in the theater will be laughing in the aisles. To be honest, I think we've come a long way as a community, that we can make movies where we aren't so concerned with putting a good face forward for white folks, but instead made just for us.

(I don't know if actually agree 100% with what I'm saying. Just wanted to give another point of view)

I'm trying to think of a movie where Ice Cube DOESN'T glower and scowl his way through most of the film. Nope, drawing a blank.

Anonymous said:

" I think the whole "minstrel" show school of acting has become such a part of the way that black comedians act in movies (over the top, crazy, bug eyed) that it's become our particular humor."

Bullshit. I'm black. Don't include me in that "our particular humor" nonsense. You can call me a member of the Black Crusaders, too, if you want. I like Tracy Morgan a lot, and I don't have some set of requirements for what a "black" movie should and shouldn't be, but I hate that every time we see an all black cast, it's either clowning in some stupid comedy like this or one of those Madea movies that Perry vomits up with disturbing regularity. And for the record, I don't give a rat's ass what white people think about the black community. This is what I think: it's hard as hell to get decent movies made, period. It's even harder to get decent movies made about blacks, hispanics, Asians, Native Americans, Eskimos, etc. because our life stories just aren't real to a disturbingly large segment of the American population. Movie producers' desire to appeal to this population dictates which movies get made and which don't. I've read interviews in which black actors and writers recount how they've been told by powers that be that substantive, character-driven stories about black folk just don't make money. The difference between the minstrel stereotype and the others you mention is that you can turn on the television or got to the theatre and see people from those backgrounds represented in a variety of circumstances. Not so with us. And do you know the history of minstrel entertainment in this country? Americans received a steady diet of it over many generations, and it has contributed to the one-dimensional way that our lives are perceived and depicted in every aspect of this society. Have you watched the MSM, BET, or read a blog post about Obama--conservative or liberal--lately? Have you noticed the way the media fetishizes Sharpton and Jackson, treating their burlesque asses like they're our tribal chiefs?

I know I've wasted too many words on this review. So, I'll just close by saying that the wasting of black talent on the silver screen and the lack of insightful depictions of black characters is not funny. I, for one, refuse to embrace modern minstrelsy as "our particular humor." In fact, Anonymous, for every black person in your 50% black city who you claim will be rolling in the aisles watching this movie, there are thousands of us, millions of us, who will refuse to waste our time with this crap.

Get used to it. Zacharek is awful.

It is bullshit how they crank out these formulaic comedies trafficking grossly in stereotypes. It happens in "white" comedies all the time too, however. Look at anything with Rob Schneider or the last half dozen of Adam Sandler's comedies. It pisses me off that our intelligence and our sharp senses of humor are insulted with these pieces of shit. But throw in race as with the movie in question, "Are We There Yet" or whatever, and it goes from insulting to outrageous.

People please: stop showing up for these movies so they'll stop making them! I'm probably preaching to the choir here on Salon, but still. If all the comedies showing are dumbass pieces of shit and you just aren't in the mood for something serious, stay home and read a novel or play some Scategories or something. There's plenty of light entertainment out there that isn't racist and/or dumber-than-dirt.