There is a lesson to be learned here but this movie thinks that the lesson needs to be learned with showing stupid characters learn what is basically common knowledge to everybody else.
All the characters are stupid in this "comedy", even those who are supposed to be intelligent. First of all, who would ever mistake C. Thomas Howell with makeup for a black man? I know this is a movie but this kind of comedy is strictly pre 50's schtick. It's not just because there is a guy in blackface but all the white characters act like Marx Brothers stooges. They don't get it.
Here is the biggest problem: The character of James Earl Jones, written as a supposedly intelligent man. Any sign of that is knocked down with a sledge hammer at the end. His actions would have caused riots in the real world.
C. Thomas Howell is a virtually forgotten name today and he should consider himself lucky. If he was remembered today it would be because of this. This would have been a truly horrifying legacy.
All the characters are stupid in this "comedy", even those who are supposed to be intelligent. First of all, who would ever mistake C. Thomas Howell with makeup for a black man? I know this is a movie but this kind of comedy is strictly pre 50's schtick. It's not just because there is a guy in blackface but all the white characters act like Marx Brothers stooges. They don't get it.
Here is the biggest problem: The character of James Earl Jones, written as a supposedly intelligent man. Any sign of that is knocked down with a sledge hammer at the end. His actions would have caused riots in the real world.
C. Thomas Howell is a virtually forgotten name today and he should consider himself lucky. If he was remembered today it would be because of this. This would have been a truly horrifying legacy.