They Cloned Tyrone (2023 many John Boyegas film)

[Mister Six]

This is out now on Netflix after a brief theatrical run. It's obviously going for the same sort of "black social issues filtered through genre pulp" groove as Get Out and Sorry to Bother You, and although it's not quite as clever or interesting as either of those, it's definitely good fun.

Drug dealer Fontaine (John Boyega), pimp Slick Charles (Jamie Foxx) and hooker Yo-Yo (Teyonah Parris) uncover a dastardly conspiracy when one of them comes back from the dead. And who is Tyrone?

It nicks a pretty key plot point off Undercover Brother, and I think it would have benefited from a similarly goofy tone; past the blaxploitation aesthetic and some of the slightly wackier fringe details, it tries to have a kind of dramatic weight at its core that it can't really sustain. There's a bit at the end where a character has a big emotional revelation in front of a really fucking goofy prop, and I don't know if the absurd juxtaposition was entirely intentional.

Still, it's an entertaining couple of hours, and it's nice to see late-stage Netflix putting out something good for once.

[Small Man Big Horse]

I think I liked this a little bit more than you but only a small amount, I certainly found it fascinating to watch and it played out in a way which while not surprising never felt really predictable. I thought all three leads turned in fantastic performances as well, which I think is why I liked it so much, but like you say it hasn't quite got the depth it maybe could have had? Hmmm, it's late and I'm not sure if I'm putting across how I felt about it accurately, as it's a memorable film that I enjoyed, but it's not one I have the urge to recommend to everyone I meet. So a 8.1/10 film, whatever that means these days.

[madhair60]

director: tyrone rhymes with clone, nearly

netflix: here's twenty million dollars

[Mister Six]

I thought all three leads turned in fantastic performances as well, which I think is why I liked it so much, but like you say it hasn't quite got the depth it maybe could have had?

It's tonally weird and the ending is trying a bit too hard to have a depth that isn't really supported by the rest of the film. It tries to make some kind of Big Serious Point about, uh, mainstream US society trying to whiten black people or something, and play it for real drama, but the backdrop to all of this is so daft and the villains' plan so convoluted and stupid it just falls flat. I wonder, if they hadn't tried to be anything close to serious about it and leant into the goofier side all the way through, whether that might have worked better for me.

I'd agree with your score though, and I'm a bit sorry I sounded so down on it, because it is a massive laugh.

[Famous Mortimer]

I loved it. Three brilliant central performances, thought the script was great, one of my favourites of last year.