I was just saying the other day that satire was dead in our current climate.
Maybe not quite yet.
Social commentary, laugh out loud comedy, science fiction and high concept, THEY CLONED TYRONE is a one-of-a-kind experience from Juel Taylor.
Taylor (Creed II) has created something daring and insightful and loaded it with rapid fire jokes that transport you back to 70's blaxploitation flicks like "Coffy" and "Shaft".
John Boyega (Finn in the recent "Star Wars" trilogy) is terrific as Fontaine. An angry drug dealer in a deadly cycle, he's shot by a rival and is very surprised to wake up the next morning as if nothing's happened. Fontaine forms a very unlikely and hilarious trio to find out what's going on.
Jamie Foxx is the best he's been in years as pimp Slick Charles. Charles makes up for what he lacks in brains with style, fur coats and a devotion to avoiding danger. This is one of the dumbest characters Foxx has ever played and he taps into some of his best comic delivery and physical gifts in his over the top performance. Slick Charles is a hilarious mess that NEVER stops moving.
Teyonah Parris (WandaVision) is perfect as YoYo, the seventies hooker whose real gift is her detective work. All those Nancy Drew books she read as a kid have paid off for the trio. Parris is so damn funny here and her interactions with Foxx are gold.
What they uncover is a vast conspiracy of control over their neighborhood.
A scientific complex under their town is part "Westworld" with serious hints of "The Cabin in the Woods."
Clones are being created to control the neighborhood, along with drugs that keep everyone right where they are at.
Taylor's writing is eerie and clever, making you laugh while a creeping dread and discomfort slowly builds.
David Alan Grier (Joe Pickett) is underused but funny as a local preacher and Kiefer Sutherland has fun as the baddie henchman of the true power behind the conspiracy.
Boyega is the heart of the movie and his quiet scenes where he ponders his life and just what in hell is going on around him anchor the movie in some real sadness. It's the perfect edge against all the comedy and helps ground the messaging of the film.
If I had to chose two words to describe the experience, I'd call it innovative & hilarious.
Oh yes, AND adult satire. The lost art.
Ready to think AND laugh?
THEY CLONED TYRONE gets a solid B.
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