It's an exhausting, and exhaustingly pleasurable, entertainment.
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08/01/04
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Baadasssss! (2004)
90
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Reviews Counted:105
Fresh:95
Rotten:10
Average Rating:7.4/10
Consensus: An entertaining and intriguing tribute to a father from his son.
Theatrical Release:May 28, 2004 Limited
Box Office: $289,955
Synopsis: In "Baadasssss!" Mario Van Peebles pay tribute to his dad, pioneer black filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles. The Movie dramatically recounts the saga of what his father went through more than 30 years... [More]
Starring: Joy Bryant, Ossie Davis, David Alan Grier, Mario Van Peebles
Director: Mario Van Peebles
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Reviews for Baadasssss!
Top CriticCompelling both as a chronicle of guerrilla filmmaking and as a son's movie about his father, it presents a clear-eyed, warts-and-all view of artistic obsession.
07/23/04
It's a riveting yarn about seat-of-the-pants moviemaking, populated with eccentric characters -- not the least of whom is Melvin.
07/23/04
Every independent filmmaker with a micro-budget and mega-dreams should see Baadasssss.
07/23/04
Baadasssss tells the story of that empowering moment in time, which overcomes any father-son hero worship that drags the film down.
07/19/04
Film history lessons don't get any cooler than Baadasssss!
07/16/04
It is a slice of what happened by one of those it happened to.
07/09/04
Mario Van Peebles celebrates not just his father but the ragged glory of independent cinema in the risky days before DVD, Sundance and the Internet.
07/09/04
It's Mario's willingness to show his father as a flawed, three-dimensional person that drives Baadasssss!
07/08/04
Benefits from being a true story, but it would be a giddy, fast-paced romp even if it were fictional.
07/05/04
Seethes with well-targeted humor that mixes comfortably with its simmering energy and anger.
07/03/04
Click to read the article
07/03/04
If you're among the many who enjoy the fruits of today's African-American cinema, you owe it to yourself to see how the seeds were sown.
07/02/04
It's a great story and well worth remembering.
07/02/04
It's a privileged view of a public moment; Mario's made a valentine to his father that's both touching and surprisingly charming.
07/02/04
Watching Van Peebles portray papa Melvin's struggle to bring filmdom into line with his militant conscience, you can't help but be swept up in the rediscovered intoxication of it all.
06/30/04
Ultimately a son's affectionate tribute to his dad, a difficult man who floundered as a regular father but established himself as a "founding father" of a different sort.
06/30/04
...an extremely effective look at the making of a film...
06/27/04
Effectively raw and stylish.
06/25/04
Top CriticWorks alternately as a weird kind of biopic, a movie about moviemaking and a film about a certain era in Hollywood.
06/25/04
Latest News for Baadasssss!
January 03, 2006:
Vincent Schiavelli Passes at 57
Character actor Vincent Schiavelli, the long-faced veteran of over 150 film and television appearances, died of lung cancer December 26 at home in Sicily. He was 57 years old. More...
September 14, 2005:
Van Peebles "Wood" Direct a New Mystery Thriller
Mario Van Peebles has signed a deal with Spyglass Entertainment to direct and star in the mystery-thriller "Yellow Wood," says The Hollywood Reporter. More...
March 16, 2005:
Ebert's Overlooked Film Festival 2005
A 70-mm French comedy by Jacques Tati will open my 7th annual Overlooked Film Festival this April, and a Bollywood musical starring "the most beautiful woman in the... More...
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