Mo Better Blues 1990

Caryn James, New York Times: From characters to camera angles, this story of a self-absorbed jazz trumpeter is one long cliche, the kind that might make his most loyal admirers wince and wonder, 'Spike, what happened?' Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: Though it's full of striking visual ideas and actorly turns, it never fully convinces. Read more

Entertainment Weekly: Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Mo' Better Blues is not a great film, but it's an interesting one, which is almost as rare. Read more

Geoff Andrew, Time Out: Despite stylish camerawork and sturdy acting, this lengthy indulgence succeeds neither as jazz movie nor as cautionary tale. Read more

Variety Staff, Variety: Personal rather than social issues come to the fore in Mo' Better Blues, a Spike Lee personality piece dressed in jazz trappings that puffs itself up like Bird but doesn't really fly. Read more

Hal Hinson, Washington Post: If Lee was striving to convey a fuller sense of the jazz musician's life, of the connections between black life and black music, or a deeper, more soulful feeling for the music itself, his efforts fall short. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: Few will accuse Spike Lee's Mo' Better Blues of being a masterpiece. But it's still full of the things that make Spike Lee films, well, Spike Lee films. Full of the fun, full of the spirit. Read more