Review: Chappelle Throws Lively 'Block Party'

'Dave Chappelle's Block Party' (R) (out of four)

It says something about Michel Gondry's lively "Dave Chappelle's Block Party" that more than once it evokes memories of "Singin' In The Rain" and how that musical, just like this concert film, seems created solely as a euphoric celebration of this thing called art.

Knowing a bit about Chappelle's back story, however, makes "Block Party" even a more passionate experience.

The star of Comedy Central's hugely successful "Chappelle's Show," Chappelle signed a monstrous $50 million contract in 2004 to produce two additional seasons of the skit comedy show. He would walk off the project only a few months later, saying he no longer trusted those around him, or trusted that his material was any good.

The concert in this film takes place around the time he signed his new contract. And while the comedian is as funny as ever, the film also catches the hint of a man coming to grips with his celebrity.

This is not just Chappelle the concert organizer. There's also a bit of Chappelle the disillusioned superstar.

Just as "Singin' In The Rain" can be summed up in one sentence, so can "Dave Chappelle's Block Party:" Over three days in September of 2004, we watch as Chappelle recruits an audience, sets up the stage and throws a wild Brooklyn block party with an impressive lineup of his favorite hip- hop bands.

He comments in ads for the movie that this is the concert he had "always wanted to see," and Gondry ("Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind") captures his excitement in spreading the word first to those he meets in Ohio, where he lives, and then later in New York City, as he hands out gold tickets to lucky passers-by.

He invites an older white woman who works at his local Ohio convenient store. He invites the marching band of a local college to come and march down the streets of Brooklyn. By the day of the party, hundreds of people have lined up to board buses that will take them to a secret location for this all-day music event.

All the while, Chappelle keeps coming back with a quick punchline or an insightful essay on why these are the musicians that truly matter to him. And we slowly realize this is no regular rap concert - these are a mix of the popular, such as Erykah Badu, and the fringe, such as Dead Prez, and always a focus on groups that have something passionate to say. When Dead Prez starts singing "Turn Off the Radio," it becomes clear that most of the performers here have very little in common with the stereotypical image of thug rap so often shown on MTV and heard on the radio.

The film reunites the band The Fugees, and about the time they take the stage for the block party's finale, there's no mistaking the fact that Gondry's world is alive with the energy of this music and these people, gathered together. As Wyclef Jean sings "President," there's even a hint of hip hop's political edge, and how the next great social movement of this country might be starting right now, with rap as the one outlet and the one voice for outrage and change.

And though some may only see it as a concert film, there's something more here. After almost two hours of music, comedy and small vignettes about the people on both sides of the stage, we realize that this is the best of America, the coming together of people from varied backgrounds to celebrate art, ideas and the communal spirit.

No, it's not Shakespeare, it's not "Citizen Kane," but when a movie is this funny, addictive, affectionate, energetic, uplifting and aware of the world and its people and their hearts, it is just as much a triumph.