TIFF Report: David Chappelle's Block Party Review

Brought to the festival as a work in progress Dave Chappelle's Block Party is laugh out loud funny and a touch awe-inspiring. Half concert movie and half stand-up movie Chappelle gathered together some incredible talent for his musical show in Brooklyn, New York. Kanye West, Mos Def, Erykah Badu, Dead Prez, Jill Scott, The Roots and Big Daddy Kane play for the very small crowd. Chappelle then pulls an incredible coup and The Fugees perform on stage together for the first time since 1997. "This is the concert I always wanted to see," says Chappelle to the camera.

Amongst the small crowd are folks he invited from his home in Ohio including the entire marching band from Central State University. It is an eclectic mix of people from town. A middle-aged white woman asks the camera as she packs her bags, "What do I wear to a rap concert?" They're clearly out of their element but you can see they love Dave and appreciate his good graces and generous offer to bus them to New York and take care of all their needs over the course of the trip.

The concert footage is spliced with musical acts, Chappelle's walk-about through the neighborhood visiting a day-care center and a Salvation Army store, and rehearsal footage. In the SA store he gives an impromptu piano recital. He only knows two songs. Afterwards he explains that the connection between musicians and comedians is very strong. Comedians would love to be musicians and musicians think they're funny. He says, "I'm mediocre at both and yet have managed to talk my way into a fortune." The film also has some inspiring moments for the Black community as well preaching strength of self and strength of the community to stand together against social injustice. It only touches on these moments briefly however so it wisely doesn't get preachy and awkward enough to disrupt the flow of the movie.

In the end David Chappelle's Block Party is nothing more than a Comedy/Concert film. There is no deep soul searching. I do not recall if Chappelle ever explained why he wanted to throw a block party in the first place. Perhaps, 'Because I can!", is the only reason we need. Chappelle is on his game throughout and every time he is on the screen you laugh hard. Should this reach the big screen it would be interesting to see what the final product looks like and how the film is rated. The language in Chappelle's performance and the lyrical content of some of the songs is quite foul so it would be interesting to see if the younger demographic would be able to see this in theatres. The movie is billed on the success of Chappelle and his show and the popularity of the musical artists Block Party with that demographic Block Party would be hugely successful for the studio that picks this up. That doesn't mean that anyone outside of the younger demographic won't 'get it'. Our viewing was filled with laughter, even some clapping and 'oohs' and 'aahs' as certain artists came on stage.

::: sigh ::: what a nice way to start my morning.