DysFunktional Family
dir. Gallo
Opens Fri April 4
Various Theaters
The one thing this documentary of comedian Eddie Griffin’s return to his hometown of Kansas City proves is that pure luck is all you need to become famous in America. Where else in the whole wide world could a semiliterate insect of a human being make it so far with so little? This is no Richard Wright success story–the story of a black boy who is born with a big brain, learns to read and love books on his own, and becomes a world-famous author. There is none of that in Eddie Griffin’s story.
But maybe the Richard Wright example is a bit much. How about Sidney Poitier? Born in Barbados, born thin, poor, with almost zero chance of seeing the end of the week. Indeed, just becoming an illiterate teenager is a major accomplishment for him. Then he learns to read, goes all the way up to New York, becomes a stage actor, and finally a Hollywood star. Now that is a story! The story of will and brains against terrible odds.
According to DysFunktional Family, Eddie was dumb when he was born; dumb when he was a teen, living with his dumb mother and uncles (one of whom was a junkie and a pimp; the other an amateur porn director). He was dumb as a young adult; and, finally, he is dumb as a full-grown Hollywood movie star (Undercover Brother). And he has no problem displaying his infinite stupidity on film–at one point in the documentary, he points at a random Sikh walking through a city park, minding his own business, and calls him an Arab terrorist that the U.S. government must find and kill.
The only thing he might have to his credit is that he looks kind of funny, with his beady eyes, small nose, and funky head (a sort of black George Bush). But that is all there is: a funny face. And for this mug he gets a whole fucking documentary! Made in America.