Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Joseph Sylvers A movie my mother felt it was "important" for me to see at a young age. Funny enough too, though a tad dated times. Still a fine, and refreshing moment from both the world of independent film(financed by Townsend's own credit cards) and comedy in general, especially "black comedies" and I don't mean those by Todd Solondz.It's the most absurd moments which stick with me, like John Witherspoon muttering to himself about "ho-cakes" and the film noir spoof featuring Jerry Curl (the greatest and greasiest of all villains). So aside from episodes of "The Boondocks" on Cartoon Network, and the occasional "Chapel Show" re-run, there's still few intelligent, black comic voices, especially those critical of not just external finger pointing the ways the "white media" portrays African American's, but the ways and reasons which African Americans take on these roles and stereotypes in "black media" as well.Two "Boondocks" episodes this past year, critical of BET, were banned from the air, and only available to view on DVD, while Tyler Perry (famous for playing yet another cross dressing Mammy in a fat suit), makes films and TV shows every thirty five seconds...well at least there's always work at the Post-Office

preppy-3 Robert Townsend plays a black actor who is trying to find an acting job in California...but all he finds are stereotypical roles. It seems the only acting jobs for blacks are as gangsters, hookers and such.Likable and ambitious but VERY uneven comedy. It shows parodies of TV shows, movies and commercials all making fun of how blacks are treated in Hollywood. It makes its point early on and just keeps making it again and again and again. It gets repetitious pretty quickly. Some of it is funny but other bits (especially a Siskel/Ebert bit and an Eddie Murphy gag) are pretty dated. This was a sizable hit when it came out but I never found it that funny. The whole cast is good (some are excellent) but the material just keeps repeating itself. Townsend did much better with his next film "The Five Heartbeats".Sadly this movie had no effect on Hollywood. From what I hear it's still difficult for black actors to get good jobs and just three years after this "New Jack City" was released--a very violent movie about black gangsters that was a monster hit.

pzilliox When this film first came out, I saw it and loved it. For years, I've quoted (and, as it turns out, misquoted) a few of its lines--some of the funniest I've ever heard. I recently watched the DVD version with my wife, who'd never seen it. She wasn't impressed, and I can't say that I blame her. I was surprised how tedious and un-funny some stretches of the film are, and how disconnected the various skits were. The funny parts are still riotously funny (Nearly every second of "Sneakin' In The Movies with Tyrone and Speed" is laugh-out-loud funny), but other parts are boring and flat. The film-noir parody is especially poor, with unfocused, stale gags delivered slowly and without zest. A final note: those easily offended by four-letter words should skip this film. In keeping with its urban "street" vibe, rough language is pervasive--especially in the funniest scenes.

Joseph P. Ulibas Hollywood Shuffle (1987) was the directorial debut of Actor/ Director Robert Townshend. His self financed film Hollywood SHUFFLE pokes fun at the struggles many black actors face whilst looking for an acting career in Hollywood. It's sad as well because many of these stereotypes are still true to this day. While progress has been made in the American Movie Industry, they still need to make more progress. This film showed people how the Movie making business handles the majority of young black actors who're trying to make it in the movies.The story is about a young, talented and aspiring actor who wants to make it in Hollywood as a director. But when he tries out for roles, he meets a lot of stumbling blocks. Many of these are about his racial background (i.e. he's not black enough, he's too black, doesn't act black, etc. etc.). Eventually he's offered a role but will he throw away his dignity to accept it? Can young Robert make it in Hollywood without "selling out"? Will his peer drag him down? To find out you'll just have to watch Hollywood SHUFFLE.Highly recommended film.