The defence The Sentimental Softie
“Sincerity is not manipulation.”
The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.
Back to trending 
Dave Chappelle's Block Party
Comedy · Music · 2005
The American comedian/actor delivers a story about the alternative Hip Hop scene. A small town Ohio mans moves to Brooklyn, New York, to throw an unprecedented block party.
Movie details
Dave Chappelle's Block Party
“You're invited to the party of the decade!”
2005 Comedy · Music 1h 40m
Critical arithmetic
The consensus, allegedly.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
IMDb
7.2 / 10
9.7K votes
Rotten Tomatoes
93 %
Tomatometer
Metacritic
84 / 100
Metascore
TMDB
6.8 / 10
Community rating
External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.
The American comedian/actor delivers a story about the alternative Hip Hop scene. A small town Ohio mans moves to Brooklyn, New York, to throw an unprecedented block party.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Dave Chappelle's Block Party?
For the defence
The Sentimental Softie
“You came to feel something, and you will.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Cool Ironist
“Feeling things is a little embarrassing.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
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Bill Burr: Drop Dead Years
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The Horse's Mouth
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Jeff Dunham: Arguing with Myself
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A recorded live performance of ventriloquist Jeff Dunham portrays a comedian whose revival of an old-fashioned art has made ventriloquism more relevant to modern societal concerns. Starring his six main characters, from Bubba Jay, a Nascar-obsessed hick, to Peanut, a flamboyant gay monkey, Dunham’s puppets have dirty but inoffensive senses of humor that mock the American Dream.
Dave Chappelle: The Unstoppable...
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Louis C.K.: Oh My God
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Jimmy Carr: Natural Born Killer
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How to Murder Your Wife
Comedy · 1965
Stanley Ford leads an idyllic bachelor life. He is a nationally syndicated cartoonist whose Bash Brannigan series provides him with a luxury townhouse and a full-time valet, Charles. When he wakes up the morning after the night before - he had attended a friend's stag party - he finds that he is married to the very beautiful woman who popped out of the cake - and who doesn't speak a word of English. Despite his initial protestations, he comes to like married life and even changes his cartoon character from a super spy to a somewhat harried husband.
Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Michel Gondry
Written by
Dave Chappelle
Dave Chappelle
Self
Erykah Badu
Self
Common
Self
Yasiin Bey
Self - (as Mos Def)
Talib Kweli
Self
Bilal
Self
Lil' Cease
Self
Court is in session
Put Dave Chappelle's Block Party on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Cool Ironist
“The strings are showing.”
Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.