accessAtlanta

Grade: A-

Verdict: An energetic and hilarious comedy concert that captures the sense of a live show.

Details: Featuring Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer and Bernie Mac. Rated R for language and sex-related humor. 1 hour, 57 minutes.

See it: Atlanta theaters and showtimes for The Original Kings of Comedy

Rate it: Write your own review

Review: There's nothing that original about "The Original Kings of Comedy." It's just a lot of funny stuff knocked out by four sharp standup comics. And under Spike Lee's direction it's one of the liveliest concert films in years.

Steve Harvey (who acts as the evening's emcee), D.L. Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer and Bernie Mac all take turns at the packed Charlotte Coliseum in North Carolina, riffing on everything from John Rocker to Bill Clinton. Their routines get raucous and rude, but without venturing into the blistering verbal assaults of someone like Chris Rock. (Yes, there's plenty of profanity, but it rarely seems gratuitous, or thrown out for shock value.)

There's something even a little conservative about some of the material, as when Harvey celebrates the simmering love songs of the '70s, as opposed to the hostile crackle of contemporary hip hop.

Comic targets include mean country grandmas, church ladies, spoiled children and white people in various states of uptightness.

All four comedians find ways to exploit the humorous differences between African American and Caucasian cultures, whether it's behavior on the sinking Titanic, or reaction to an office spree shooting. The result feels less like a case of drawing divisions between black and white than a genial elbow in the ribs about our differences.

What elevates "Kings" above its material is director Lee's shrewd use of multiple cameras. Though very funny, the most recent filmed standup concert, Margaret Cho's "I'm the One That I Want," stayed focused entirely on the performer during her act. Lee looses several cameras through the Coliseum, capturing audience reactions and giving the movie the dynamic spark of the live event. (At a preview screening, the film's audience broke into applause repeatedly, the live vibe is so infectious.)

It helps that the comics - particularly Harvey - turn the viewers into part of their act. Harvey takes audience members to task for their hair, their clothes, their country ways. In one memorable bit, he punishes a slouching front-row viewer who leaves his seat during the show by grabbing the guy's jacket and holding it hostage.

On the downside, Lee shot the concert on digital video, and sometimes, due to the murky audience lighting, or distance from the stage, the image is grainy and washed out. Also, by introducing the individual comedians with some backstage footage of the guys clowning around, he can't keep the movie from feeling a little long; it has a start-and-stop rhythm that can become tiring.

But for the most part "Kings" is a rollicking good time, and one of the funniest movies you'll find in a summer that's a little low on laughs at the megaplex.

"Fun is fun. Jokes is jokes," says Bernie Mac toward the end of his scathing, comically angry monologue. "It ain't nothing to be ashamed of." In a way, his words come as a slight apology for a movie that doesn't need one.

— Steve Murray, Cox News Service