The mystery is fairly dull. Predictable and uninteresting. Your tolerance for blackface and stereotypical comedy will decide how much you like the film.
Mantan Moreland was famously mocked in Spike Lee's Bamboozled. He and Stepinfetchit made their careers out of playing subservient characters, mocked by whites and the scripts as dumb, ignorant, lazy, all the stereotypes.
Here's where the debate is. Some see them as comically gifted enough to turn the stereotypes on their head, and even get away with mocking whites who believe them. Truth is, both of those happen in this film and others. A racist might even be dumb enough for the mockery to go over their head.
All of that subtlety goes out the window once the white lead dons blackface and mocks Mantan at length though.
Mantan Moreland was famously mocked in Spike Lee's Bamboozled. He and Stepinfetchit made their careers out of playing subservient characters, mocked by whites and the scripts as dumb, ignorant, lazy, all the stereotypes.
Here's where the debate is. Some see them as comically gifted enough to turn the stereotypes on their head, and even get away with mocking whites who believe them. Truth is, both of those happen in this film and others. A racist might even be dumb enough for the mockery to go over their head.
All of that subtlety goes out the window once the white lead dons blackface and mocks Mantan at length though.