There’s an article in today’s Variety about Ice Cube signing on to star in an upcoming action comedy flick called Ride Along in which he’ll play a cop who seeks to ruin his engaged sister’s relationship with an affluent white psychiatrist by inviting her fiancé on an ill-advised ride-along. My first reaction? Here we go again.
Am I the only one who is not amused by this film’s bigoted premise? It’s 2009, for crying out loud! When is Hollywood going to stop playing up old-school racial stereotypes and prejudices and embrace the multicultural melting pot that is contemporary America? And why can’t a black actress be in love with a white guy on screen without their "taboo" romance being the central issue of the film?
From Monster’s Ball and Guess Who to Something New and Lakeview Terrace, this tired storyline has been done every which way from drama to comedy to thriller, and frankly, I’m sick of it. Is it too much to ask for a cute romantic comedy like You, Me and Dupree, starring, say, Taraji Henson and Matt Dillon? Casting the fabulous Rashida Jones as Paul Rudd’s love interest in I Love You, Man is a good start, but we’ve still got a long way to go. Who’s with me on this?
I’m with you. This movies sounds awful.
Hmm…you have a point. I would like to see more color-blind casting – there are many people (especially in younger generations) who engage in interracial romances. But at the same time, race is still a factor for people (as is socio-economic status, which this movie also seems to address), and I think just blatantly ignoring that all the time in the belief that we live in some hippy-dippy post-racial country is abusurd.
It’s ok cause it is black not liking white. Don’t you guys know that’s not recist, it’s comedy. But the reverse is racist. DUH!
I’m with you Margeaux. There hasn’t been positive interrracial/ multicultural relationships portrayed when the female is black and the man is white in movies for a long time. I hope that the Rashida Jones/Paul Rudd pairing is the start. I haven’t heard any backlash about them so Hollywood movie writers/casting agents better take notice.
I agree with Lil..if the casting was reversed and a white man was trying to stop his white sister from marrying a black man, that would be racist. Just let it all go…interacial couples are commonplace now.
I’m with you. Completely. Are things where we all want them to be yet? No. But a definite step toward that is the normalization of interracial relationships. Another step towards that is Ice Cube not making any more movies.
TV has always been way ahead of movies on this issue. Does anyone remember when Sean was dating Angela on “Boy Meets World?” I kept waiting for the uncomfortable “race” episode…and it never came.
There are NO black racist, only white. Have you ever seen Miss White America, NAAWP, WET, White Caucus, affirmative action for whites ? No, you never will. We will never be a united country until all these go away, and all are treated equal. Anyone should be able to make it without all these programs that promote one color more than the other. Movies like this just chaps my *ss.
Cube must be hard up for cash. Janky Promoters looks awful and now he’s signing on to this “Guess Who”? knockoff. This storyline is too tired.
To be quite honest when was the last time you saw a black couple,engaged in a healthy relationship in a major hollywood release…excluding films by Tyler Perry
There are no black racists. Oh Please. Way to refuse social responsibility. I am deeply offended by the theme of this movie. I agree affirmative action should be eliminated and there should be no option to choose race on applications. If anything AA should be class based.
One of the best dramas I’ve ever seen was last year’s “Things we Lost in the Fire”.
A widowed mother deals with the lost of her husband, and in the process the husband’s drug addict best friend finds redemption by helping the grieving family carry on.
Cast:Halle Berry (wife) and David Duchovny (husband).
Race issue? Never comes up.
@ bigdog: you do have a WET… it just goes by ABC, NBC, etc etc
Another hypocrisy-reeking Hollywood movie on race where it’s not only OK (read: understandable) to hate a white person dating a family member because he’s white – it’s a goldmine of knee-slapping humor! Reverse the races and the situation and it’s not funny anymore, it’s an oh-so-serious afterschool special. Interracial romance has been almost a norm across the country for some time now. Perhaps the the Hollywood studio executives should get out more.
Glad someone’s saying this out loud. How can we move away from racism if Hollywood keeps throwing it in our faces? It’s not the big deal it used to be, filmmakers and TV producers! Get over yourselves. As Morgan Freeman has said many times, “I’m not a BLACK actor, just an actor.”