Dolemite Is My Name
Directed by Craig Brewer
- drama
- comedy
- history
The story
The story of Rudy Ray Moore, who created the iconic big screen pimp character Dolemite in the 1970s.
What it’s like
Warm, sun-faded 1970s street color: Los Angeles nights rendered in saturated oranges, purples and tungsten amber, with bright practical neon, shag-carpeted soundstages, and the grain of a period film stock that makes the whole thing feel like it was shot on the same cheap gear as the movie-within-the-movie. Camera work is loose and playful, with handheld energy during the chaotic shoot scenes, extended wide tracking through crowded clubs, and a frequent lean into behind-the-scenes comic staging that turns exhausted crew into a kind of found family. The soundtrack is funk, soul and 70s R&B, pumping in the bars and driving the rhythm, so it sits best with the volume up. Vibe: warm, scrappy, bright and self-mocking, with a fond glow for anyone who loves watching people hustle toward a dream. Pacing is brisk and jokey, with a bit of sag through the middle, and the emotional arc is a stubborn, working-class man slowly learning he can be taken seriously. Intensity is light: some crude sexual humor and profanity, a few brawls and cheap-looking gunplay, nothing graphic. For fans of movie-making comedies, 1970s period pieces and biopics about underdogs who refuse to quit.
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