Sick Product of a Sick System

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The film is about 1:21 and that's probably not helping it either.If this is supposed to be a takeoff on "The Great White Hope" of 1970 fame, forget it.Samuel L. Jackson stars with that amazing wig as a Reverend promoter up to his neck in disgrace.Everyone seems to want a piece of the action. John Lovitz is there as well as a reporter, played by Jeff Goldblum who goes over to Jackson's side for a piece of the action.Jackson has the idea that they can make more money by having a white fighter in the ring against their champ. They get a rock and roll singer who has not lost a bout.The film tries to show that while they all think that racism is not involved, it certainly is. We also have another black challenger who is constantly looking to challenge the champ and when he belts him in the end, Jackson immediately seizes this as an opportunity to promote their slugging to a future fight.The whole thing is rather silly at best.

Reading through the reviews on here, I can only assume that the humour in this film was wasted on a lot of people. Boxing is one of the few sports that translates well into the movies, with there being a decent number of great films based around the sport. This is slightly different to most however, as it takes a very humorous, cynical approach. There are so many memorable scenes and lines in the movie, right from the opening scene it's spot-on and I really can't work out where this criticism of the direction stems from! The fight scenes are over quickly and are nothing like the real thing - obviously - it's a comedy, not a documentary (sigh).Like I said, I can only assume that the biting satire has been wasted on some viewers who were clearly expecting something different from the film. Each to their own, the film seems to have missed it's audience, but a 5 or 6 out of ten it certainly isn't! For me, it's definitely one of the better comedies out there. It's sharp, funny and well worth watching. 8 out of 10.

I'd never heard of this film when I saw it but I was tempted by the likes of Samuel L. Jackson. I was not disappointed.I am not a fan of boxing and know nothing about the sport but this film is more about corruption in sport and grubby business dealings, and is simply set in the world of boxing. That said, the idea could not be successfully transposed to another arena thanks to the flamboyant and corrupt nature of the boxing world.Samuel L. Jackson is deliciously over the top and excellent support from comedy stalwarts like Jeff Goldblum, Jon Lovitz, Damon Wayans, John Rhys Davies, and the increasingly famous Jamie Foxx make this a riotous comedy. This is one of the most quotable films I've ever come across and if you're a fan of comedy you won't regret watching this, even if you don't like it as much as I do.

"The Great White Hype" is a wacky, raucous, and mediocre comedy which pokes fun at what is doubtless pound-for-pound America's most corrupt sport. The film shows the connection between hype and the Pay Per View take in a major boxing event. However, it fails to carve out the players' real personas with sufficient clarity to make the film good satire and deliver a KO blow to the sports bad guys while giving the good guys a spot. A lukewarm watch for the public at large, "...Hype" will be most enjoyed by boxing fans.