BLUES BROTHERS 2000
When The Blues Brothers came out in 1980, it was a silly movie
based on a Saturday Night Live sketch, which also happened to have
a pretty good soundtrack. This time, Dan Aykroyd and director John Landis
have given up any pretense at plot for an excuse to host the best musical
experience on celluloid in this decade. Unlike its predecessor, Blues
Brothers 2000 is virtually worthless without the music. But the music's
so good, it doesn't matter.
The character of Elwood Blues (Aykroyd) has done a complete about-face
since we last saw him. What was always funny about Elwood was his total
absence of personality when he was not onstage. He would stand there, stone-faced
behind his Ray-Ban G15's, and let his brother Jake (John Belushi) do all
the talking. Now the entire exposition of the story rests on Elwood's shoulders,
and that is unfortunate. Aykroyd has made him into a yammering busybody
like John Ratzenberger's "Cliff" character on Cheers. He's
so articulate, it's tragic.
But he's not the only one suffering from a split personality. John Goodman's
character, Mighty Mack, can't seem to settle either. Half the time he's
a nerdy country boy; the other half, he seems to have taken over Elwood's
previous job of monosyllabic blues automaton. And this time there are two
other "brothers": Cabel Chamberlain (Joe Morton), a cop who eventually
sees the light, and Buster (J. Evan Bonifant), a 10-year-old who probably
has fewer than five lines in the movie, but he's definitely got the moves.
Writer Aykroyd has included, in addition to the entire membership of
the original band (minus Belushi), familiar elements such as a pointless
cop car pileup, a group of Southern good-old-boy terrorists led by Darrell
Hammond (Saturday Night Live), and Sister Mary Stigmata (Kathleen
Freeman), the nun from the first movie who now wields a switchblade-style
baton for whipping the knuckles of transgressors. The addition of a group
of Soviet Russians (you heard me) further leads one to believe that this
script was written back when Aykroyd was still collecting a regular paycheck
from NBC.
But it just doesn't matter. Because this movie is about the music. Aretha
Franklin's relaxed-but-sexy version of "Respect" is even better
(if that's possible) than her "Think" done for the first movie.
B.B. King is at the top of his form as the leader of the all-star blues
band against which the Brothers must compete in the final sequence. And
this climax, with two dozen of the greatest soul and blues personalities
alive, has to be experienced to be believed. I defy anyone to sit still
through it. A concert featuring all these R&B greats playing together
would cost over 100 bucks for the cheap seats. But you can see them for
the price of a movie admission.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go stand in line and wait for the soundrack to come out. ****