July 21-27 Eddie Griffin Week: This motherfucker is funny!

When I was a little kid, I would often see ads late at night for touring black plays that were coming to churches and community centers, usually starring my favorite actors from Good Times or What’s Happening? I would ask my parents if we could go, and I didn’t understand that this was an experience maybe not for a 7-year-old white kid from the sticks. I still wish I had gon, and this movie proves I would have loved it.

Directed and written by David E. Talbert, this has a logline that made me tune in: “When the blue-collar Jordan family wins a radio contest for a million dollars, they quickly begin to realize that more money means more problems. It seems everybody wants a piece of their new fortune, including a long-lost uncle played masterfully by comedian Eddie Griffin.”

Then again, this IMDB reviewer did not enjoy this: “The story moved extremely slowly. The jokes were mediocre, and the storyline was just so-so. Even so, I will continue to support black playwrights, artists & businesses.”

At least they’re supportive!

There was also a 10/10 review that stated, “If you have an hour and forty minutes to waste, this is OK”, and another 9/10 review that claimed, “For reviews of theatrical singing only.”

Not high praise.

Anyways, the Jordan family is struggling. The factory has closed, leaving the father jobless. His wife is ready to leave him, the son is trying to help out by becoming a gangster, and the daughter is dating the gangster, only for her soldier ex-boyfriend to come home. Only grandma is happy, because all she does is go to church and sing her songs. As for Uncle Eddie (Eddie Griffin), he was once in trouble but seems to have turned his life around, even if no one believes it.

Money changes everything, as they say, but as they also say, more money, more problems. As you can imagine, everything works out fine in the end. It feels like the play where you kind of had to be there, and the movie really isn’t. I worry that people might think I’m enjoying this inauthentically. Still, as a long-time lover of shows like Soul Train and Showtime at the Apollo , which aired during the mid-afternoon on weekends and at night, I would be, with all my heart, singing along and laughing.

You can watch this on Tubi.