3 out of 5

Director: Reginald Hudlin

This review: probably racist.  The Great White Hype is, oddly, a generally overlooked mostly solid satire on race and sports, penned in part by Ron Shelton of “Cobb” fame.  Samuel L. Jackson plays boxing promoter Sultan, whose boxer The Reaper – Wayans – has beaten so many people that viewers are bored and profits are slumping.  So to drum up some business they dig up a boxer who beat The Reaper in his amateur days – Terry Conklin, played by Berg, who, yeah, is white.  And there are no white heavyweight boxers, now, then, ever.  Cue the profits.  The film wavers between savvy commentary and cartoonish hijinks.  While both wavers are entertaining, the latter is what keeps the film from really feeling solid – it’s definitely more of an urban film, so while Wayans’ side of the biz seems realistic enough within the confines of the flick, the over-white heavy metal portrayal of Berg’s character feels a little silly.  When they clean him up and Berg can really “act” in to the dumb Buddhism-quoting jock bit, his character becomes endlessly entertaining – the same flip-flopping goes for Jackson, who, as a smooth talker works wonders but sometimes the business-man shtick is just a bit too shticky, and Goldblum’s bit is interesting (and well cast) but, as does the whole film, sort of collapses right at the last scene.  And Wayans is perpetually Wayans.  Still, the movie has more intelligence backing it than I think would be expected, it just seems that they cop out at key moments, keeping it just a better-than-average movie as opposed to a must see.  A good surprise if you’re not expecting anything.