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Very well executed

Pretty Good

Awesome Movie

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Before it was socially acceptable and desirable to be with black men,Jungle Fever explores this once taboo topic. Being attracted to black men myself, I find this movie thrilling and exciting. All of the beautiful black actors, and their struggles to share their love with society. If you have ever been as attracted to black guys as me or ever wondered what it would be like to take one fully into you and your heart, this is the film for you. It is a candid look at society and the racism we all face.Spike Lee at his finest and Wesley Snipes is such a physical specimen,its hard not to watch. Again, I highly recommend this movie. Watch with your significant other.

As I was reading through some of the other member reviews here, I decided to respond to arthurpewty's review. At quick glance, and in large part because of the title of the film, this appears to be about Black men wanting White women and White women wanting Black men. And if that's what you think this film is primarily about, then the way the film ends, and the subplot involving the crack-addicted son will be confusing. I actually think that the more definitive message of this film -- one that is explored through a racial theme -- is that lots of families (of all colors) are pretty screwed up. If you look at the film from that perspective, it becomes an ensemble film, rather than a "starring" film, and it explores how screwed up multiple families are, all tied together in some way.There was a time when I thought that Wesley Snipes would be the reigning Black male actor for some time. This film was my introduction to him, and I was impressed. Then along came "White Men Can't Jump" and "Passenger 57", and "Murder At 1600" and several other films that I thought were cementing his future. And then he got way too wrapped up in martial arts and such, and his career fizzled. Unfortunately, he didn't learn to stay diverse in the roles he selected, and so we lost a very actor.This was also my introduction to Annabella Sciorra, whom I also enjoyed very much in "What Dreams May Come".As an actor, Spike Lee is nearly irrelevant in this film, but he deserves high praise for his direction. This is probably the only time I have ever been unimpressed with Ossie Davis; he seemed rather wooden here as the reverend who is Wesley's Snipe's father. On the other hand, I rather enjoyed Ruby Dee's performance. Samuel L. Jackson is not an actor I admire, but he was rather good here. I'm not much of a fan of John Turturro, but his performance here was very good (and this may have been the first time I ever really noticed him as an actor). Why did Anthony Quinn take this role? It was beneath him.This is not a perfect film, and it is -- now -- perhaps a tad dated (although the sentiments expressed here still exist in many places by many people). Highly recommended.

Jungle Fever, the feature film by Spike Lee directly preceding his well-respected biopic Malcolm X, is a whopping statement against drugs and white supremacy. To reference an earlier Lee "joint's" title, it explores the respective dazes of two African-American brothers - Flipper Purify (Wesley Snipes), who's mesmerized by a white woman's lure, and Gator Purify (Samuel L. Jackson), a crack addict. Lee's thorough investigation of the drugs and race issues is undercut by his inability to write a truly satisfying narrative featuring Flipper and Gator's plot lines.To return to the film's central issue of delusion, its most problematic viewpoint is that of extensive judgment of architect Flipper's affair with his Italian-American secretary, Angie (Annabella Sciorra). Lee's title, Jungle Fever, slyly refers to a psychological haze experienced by some people in interracial relationships. The rub comes in Lee's obvious statement on what Flipper - and perhaps all black men who are involved with white women - want, in the character's name: "Flipper Purify." Could a more ham-fisted summary be presented in film? In addition, Snipes' character is rebuked for his taste in women repeatedly in the film's diegesis: by his father the Good Reverend Doctor Purify (Ossie Davis), by his wife Drew (Lonette McKee), and by a nosy, grating, black waitress played by Queen Latifah, to name a few. So condemning is Lee's treatment of Flipper and Angie's desire for one another, by the film's end, it's rendered as a drug like Gator's crack cocaine. No intrinsic, long-lasting value can be drawn from it.This moral is the film's worst flaw. Technically, it is very accomplished, even if the central "romance" is empty and unfulfilling. There are several great acting performances, among them Ossie Davis' turn as the Good Reverend; John Turturro as a store clerk who is jilted by Angie and looks for love with an African-American woman; the great Anthony Quinn as the clerk's father who holds onto bigotry as a source of personal identity; Wesley Snipes, towering as he navigates Lee's elaborate story realm; and Samuel L. Jackson as the witty crackhead brother Gator. While on the subject of Jackson, he has revealed that he was actually addicted to crack when he learned he got the role of Gator. The judges at the Cannes Film Festival created a new award specifically to honor Jackson's vivacious acting. Ernest Dickerson functioned well as the film's director of photography, bringing vivid colors to the story. The film's music stays interesting, being a collage of mainly Stevie Wonder, Mahalia Jackson and Frank Sinatra, with a bit of vintage Public Enemy thrown in for good measure.Some words should be allotted to mentioning the film's centerpiece, a subplot sequence wherein Flipper goes looking for his brother and ventures into a den of iniquity called the "Taj Mahal." This is a building where hundreds of crackheads go to enjoy crack, trade sex for drugs, etc. Snipes gives a singular effort with the search scenes, backed by a very well-planned soundtrack pick of Stevie Wonder's "Livin' For the City." Gator explains to Flipper that the television set Flipper's mother wants has been "smoked" away. Afterward, Jackson does a superb job of portraying the damned while Flipper treads away, and Halle Berry could be said to do a good job in her first movie role as a crack addict, if a good job constitutes growling lines like "Eat me, mother*$#@er!" Lee's drug expose should move many - a cinematic uppercut just as sobering as when Drew suggests to Flipper during an argument that "white people hate black people because they're not black." Drew's harrowing narrative of being a mixed, light-skinned black woman in a race that is obsessed with color is a tear-jerker. But Lee has no problem summoning powerful scenes. Rather, it's his inability or unwillingness to link his plot lines more cohesively that pulls down the work. As a whole, Jungle Fever remains much less captivating than the sum of its parts.

I am a huge fan of Mr. Spike Lee. I find his talent is overlooked by his radicalism. But if you ever study "Do the Right Thing", you can see that any man who can act, write and direct such a powerful, provoking, and funny film is genius. I have since then made it a goal to see as many "Spike Lee Joints" as possible.Jungle Fever is the story of Flipper, a black middle-aged man from Harlem with a large constellation of friends and family. He is frustrated with his job, since he cannot seem to get a raise. At his job he meets Angie, a young Italian intern with a boyfriend and a family of 4 older men she has to take care of. When they meet, "it's Jungle Fever". It seems scores of famous actors portray members of either side's family and friends.Jungle Fever is clearly a similar subject to Do the Right Thing, or any of Lee's films. All his films tackle race and one other thing. With He Got Game it's race and sports, with Malcolm X it's race and history, and so on. Jungle Fever is set up to tackle race and sexuality. Obviously this is what Spike enjoys and what he does best.While I was watching this movie, I had hopes that it would become one of my favorites. For a while, it seemed it could. However, the film takes a sudden change when Flipper's brother, Gator (played by a very young Samuel L. Jackson), comes into the picture. Gator is a crack-head who mooches off of his parents (Ossie and Ruby) and is obsessive over getting some dope.From that point on, the film becomes very little about the premise. It seems that from then on the movie is about the dangers of crack. This includes a long scene where Flipper is looking for his brother among a warehouse full of crack-heads, and many more scenes with this, all leading up to a horrible ending.I think what happened was Spike Lee tried to cover sex, drugs, and race into one movie, and though attempts were good, it was not a success. I respect the movie, the music is great, the beginning is excellent, but eventually it drops off. I guess the moral is it should have been two movies.