Watch Jasper Redd: Jazz Talk For Free

Strong and Moving!

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Unique speech pattern, unique material, great show! Starts out with a handful of jokes about fast food, but they're told in such a serious, sly, tongue-in-cheek way that you cannot help busting a gut. He covers sex, religion, race, terminology, currency, but it all feels so fresh because his Southern accent and cool demeanor makes it a perspective that we find we have a void of. It's real in a way that a lot of English, South African, and Irish comedians just can't be. It feels potent and light at the same time! And then there's the jazz accompaniment! What a lovely comedy concert! I'm ready for more! It's in between pot humor, civil rights speaker. He's like a calm, mellow Richard Pryor, a smoother Louis CK, and he carries himself more proudly than Anthony Jeselnik. Winning combo!

This was a tight 30 minutes stretched out to an hour. Half of the jokes are brilliant well-written observations. Half of the jokes are no more original than things you and friends might say while hanging out. He starts and ends with weak jokes but there's really funny stuff in the middle with long stretches of silence. Oddly, the audience groans at many of his jokes which led me to believe that Redd was unable to fill a theater of fans and people were pulled off the street. There are frequent cuts to audience members which are annoying because a) it's so dark that you can barely see them and b) they're not really laughing so much that a shot of them was needed. He also laughs at a lot of his own jokes which is charming once in a while but not every few minutes. The jazz motif is an odd choice as Redd seems to have no real connection to jazz. This looked like he was trying to emulate young Cosby. Seinfeld and Chappelle influences are also glaringly obvious. His delivery is so laid-back it appeared that he didn't care if his special went well or not. The only thing really original about him is his off-beat delivery. He's a good comic but if he tightens his pacing and broadens his subject matter, he could be great.