[.ca] Great White Hype

From Amazon.com:
Writer Ron Shelton (Tin Cup) and former National Lampoon scribe Tony Hendra collaborated on the script for this satire about a boxing promoter (Samuel L. Jackson) who gets behind a white fighter (Peter Berg) after his black slugger (Damon Wayans) is mired in a losing streak. While sharp and funny, it's never quite clear what the point of it all is. Director Reginald Hudlin (Boomerang) isn't strong enough or skilled enough as a filmmaker to make this level of satire leap off the screen; fortunately, he's got powerful allies in Jackson, Berg, Wayans, Jeff Goldblum, and the rest of the cast. --Tom Keogh

why isn't this on DVD?:
The only thing that could make this movie better is it being on DVD.

Samuel l Jackson lights this up:
In one of his best performances Jackson just steals the show in this otherwise decent comedy. As a Don King style promoter Jackson electrifies many scenes with his PT Barnum huckster act. This film is worth watching for his contribution alone. The other cast members do a decent job and the story is is funny but Jackson is the main reason to check this out.

Kinda funny but pretty racist:
There were some funny moments in the movie but if the roles were reversed the black community would be in uproar. If it was making fun of black kids taking the SAT instead of white people boxing it would be deemed racist. I guess it's not even so much the boxing angle but how white people are portrayed. You have Corbin Bernson (whatever) doing his sissy act from Major League 2, Jeff Goldblum as the nerd, the boxer is just a clueless foolio, and Jon Lovitz is well, Jon Lovitz. The thing is I wouldn't even care if there wasn't such a double standard. It's just the fact that racism is okay if it's against whites that bothers me.

It would be even better on DVD:
Make that 4 people who saw it in the theatre. This is just one of those movies that somehow got passed over. I've worn out my VHS copy. I've seen thousands of movies once. I've seen this movie more times than I can count. Scenes and dialog from "THE GREAT WHITE HYPE" have become part of my comedy repetoire...that nobody ever gets...

Finally...:
Okay the DVD itself isn't so great with only minimal features but why I give this 4 stars is because I waited FOREVER for this thing to finally be released. It is one of my all-time favorite comedies and I laugh so much everytime I see it. It is about time that this was finally released and I say it rules!