Already knowing what this movie is about from start to finish before seeing it doesn't hurt it one bit. Shot entirely on location in Charlotte, North Carolina on February 26 and 27, 2000, The Original Kings of Comedy documents the end of The Kings of Comedy tour which lasted over 2 years and made more than $37 million in sold out arenas around the country.

Basically, The Original Kings of Comedy is another stage for these 4 comedians - Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer, and Bernie Mac. Spike Lee, the director, takes footage from their last couple of performances and has brought it to the screen in this 2 hour movie. Between performers, Spike throws in some backstage footage which seems as if it had no reason to be there other than to break up the stage show.

Essentially, this movie is The Original Kings of Comedy tour put on the screen so that people who didn't have the chance to see them on tour can see them now and they can make more money. Not that there's anything wrong with that - I throroughly enjoyed myself - but I wish that they would have showed more of the backstage footage and cut down the on-stage footage. This 120 minute film starts to get a little long around the end of the 3rd performer, but there's not really anything Spike could have cut out or any way that he could have made it more interesting and keep all the necessary footage.

Ultimately, The Original Kings of Comedy is a hilarious movie that shows to the rest of us not lucky enough to show them in person that these four entertainers are funny. But they go beyond funny as I found myself laughing out loud consistently and the audience around me simply loved it (the audience for this press screening was conveniently made up of mostly African-Americans, the obvious target audience for this film). You know what you're going to see going in, so don't complain if you didn't like it. It's four extremely funny comedians doing their routine - there's nothing more to it.

Genres: Comedy, Documentary
Rated: R - http://www.outermost.net/mra/images/originalkingsofcomedy.gif
Runtime: 100 minutes
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