NFL
By: Matt Overton
The Fifteenth Joint
When I first thought about doing a full watch-through of Spike Lee’s filmography there was one movie that stood out among the twenty plus features, and that was She Hate Me. A 139 minute film about a white-collar executive who ends up in business impregnating wealthy lesbians—Spike must’ve been on one when he was cooking this one up. Combining a lot of his usual cinematic elements—social satire, racial commentary, capitalist critiques—She Hate Me is an amalgamation of at least four different movies mushed together into one incoherent, jumbled narrative mess. If you need at least one example, the title of this movie comes from an obscure moment of drama in relation to an XFL athlete.
In his second Joint, Anthony Mackie portrays Jack Armstrong, the Vice President of a pharmaceutical company that is developing an HIV/AIDS vaccine. He’s still not over his ex-fiancée, played by Kerry Washington, who broke off their engagement after coming out to him. He’s managed to do well for himself as a successful businessman, living in a lavish, well-furnished apartment in New York City. But after uncovering some blatantly unethical practices at his company and calling in a whistleblower complaint, his whole life is turned upside down.
This film references the career of Frank Wills more than a few times. He was the Black security guard who discovered the criminals breaking into Watergate, leading to the impeachment and resignation of President Nixon. A well to do American citizen, Wills was chewed up and spit out by the American public just for doing his due diligence. He died young, destitute, and alone at the age of 52. She Hate Me recreates that historic night with Chiwetel Ejiofor stepping in to portray Wills in two isolated scenes. The first has a slew of prominent public figures pulling up to antagonize Wills, including an actor who is supposed to be Nixon wearing a cheap Halloween mask. This scene along with one of the climactic moments falls in line with Spike’s more preachy monologues, as the script attempts to highlight the baked in corruption that is so rampant in American politics.
As the modern day Wills, Armstrong gets nothing but headaches for his well intentioned deeds. His ailing father played by Delroy Lindo is smart enough to warn him that Big Pharma is going to swing as hard as they can, because the white executives aren’t going to let one Black guy ruin their multi-million dollar gamble. So Armstrong does his best to stand tall and remain honest, while also deciding to get his cash flow up by making some babies. This is where She Hate Me takes a stark turn in tone and becomes a very confusing thematic experience. The film attempts to have a conversation about the stereotypes surrounding Black men and sex, but the inclusion of lesbians is a curveball. I never found it to be distasteful or insulting, just strange and without a solid point to make.
She Hate Me is all at once a sexual comedy, social satire, and corporate conspiracy drama. It doesn’t pull off anything that well, instead coming across as a confused, meandering, unfunny joke. On top of everything else mentioned above, the film also wanders into contemporary politics. The opening credits closes with a graphic of a fictionalized three dollar bill, featuring the portrait of George W. Bush with a prominently featured Enron logo. Clearly Spike had a bone to pick with more than one major entity in 2004.
