Here the Jiving Jester, a super powerful person in the world of entertainment, sent in his views on BLUES BROTHERS 2000. This one is different than the previous two, in one major way!!! It was written by someone who LOVED the original. That's right. So this is what a Blue Brothers fan thought of the film. And the Jiving Jester has some very constructive criticism about the film. But as I said yesterday, the version they saw is an early print, and who knows what'll change or be tightened. The best thing to me is that the music seems to be fantastic according to all who have heard. I'll miss Cab, Candy and Belushi, but I'm certainly going to be there.
Hey, Harry. I just read the reviews of Blues Brothers 2000. I wasn't going to write, just because I figured others would take care of it and I work in the industry, but, since both of your reviews were from non-fans of the original, I felt as though you should have a balance, a review from someone who loved the original.
First off, BB2K isn't a bad movie at all, it's a lot of fun and has some great moments. Dan Aykroyd, John Landis and company clearly had a lot of fun making it, which is what it's all about really, and it's a good tribute to John Belushi, John Candy and Cab Calloway.
Unfortunately, however, the film isn't nearly as strong as the original, and a lot of big fans of the first film may be disappointed. The story has no driving point whatsoever-- there's no "mission," from God or otherwise, and the film works best when it's tongue-in-cheekly echoing the original, which is kind of sad. All of the chase scenes, every single one, are cop outs-- nothing in this film can wipe the dust off the shoes of the chase through the mall in the original. There is one amazing car crash-- but no exciting chase leading up to it.
Even the character development isn't as strong. John Goodman tries to lend his character some personality, and the script leaves him a bit of room, but you never get the sense that you know this guy the way you knew Elwood and Jake from the originals (even though you probably knew less about them). The Russian Mafia was just plain silly, as was the White Militia, but all would have been fine if they'd paid off better with at least one decent chase.
The musical numbers were fun, but they weren't as well-integrated into the storyline as they were in the original, and nothing was as subtle. Remember the scene in the original where the Blues jumped into Aretha's number, how hysterical it was that they were dancing with her, out of nowhere? Well, in this one it's way over the top, and it becomes more silly than funny. And they're involved in *every* dance number now-- they never keep their cool.
There's also a lot more mystical stuff in this one, which is fine, I guess, but ultimatley, IMHO, undermines the story and makes for less real humor. It's more mystical driven than character driven, which is, IMHO, a shame, because these are great characters, even Elwood's new "associate," Buster, who I wanted to hate but really, really liked.
Stop reading if you don't want to know the ending, we're treated to a closing number while Elwood leads an enormous number of police cars away in a chase. It fades out on Elwood, but, maybe I'm crazy, I desperately wanted to see that chase. That's indicative of the entire movie-- you'll keep wanting certain things to happen or pay off, if you're a fan of the original, and they just never manage to come together. It's not the fault of the actors, IMHO, it's the script. And, again, it's not necessarily bad (and even better than I expected, having read the script in advance), but not as amazingly entertaining and funny as the original.
It's a shame they don't have more time to work on this fillm, because if they could just add another half hour to what they already have, setting up a story, delivering some real conversations between Elwood and John Goodman's character (even if they were only a moment or two long each) and adding car chases, they'd have something really, really great. The story would've worked better if they'd had a driving motivation-- perhaps they could need to get the kid somewhere or away from something. Whatever. And I was very sorry to see that they never said, "We're on a mission from God." The new tag line, "The Lord works in mysterious ways" isn't very funny, and it's kind of frustrating to keep having divine intervention in a story you're trying to get involved in. Oh well.
All of the actors were great. Joe Morton was probably just as well as Jim Belushi, because I think a lot of the audience was surprised when he became a Blues. That won't happen after audiences have seen trailers, but if Jim Belushi had played the part, as original written, everyone would've been very confused to see him as a sherrif. I wish his pivotal change had been motivated in story rather than divine intervention. It was a complete 180, unlike Jake's decision in the original. And to change his clothes? Please-- that's just silly.
Judging from the reaction of the test audience, BB2K will do fairly well. I expect critics will respond lukewarm to it, as will fans of the original, and it certainly won't endure like the original has. I sure hope they make a third one, because I'm a big fan of passionate filmmakers doing something they enjoy (which I'd maintain is the only thing that keeps BB2K afloat). And because I love the characters.
I do recommend that fans of the original see this one, because you'll probably be expecting more of a botch job than it is, and because it's a lot of fun. Take care.
