American Pimp . The Boston Phoenix . 07-17-00

American Pimp

DIRECTED BY: Albert Hughes

REVIEWED: 07-17-00

Like a fast-food meal that leaves you full but unsatisfied, this slick documentary is both entertaining and troubling. Filmmakers Albert and Allen Hughes cast a cold eye on the allure of the ghetto gangster in the feature films Menace II Society and Dead Presidents. Here they turn to another larger-than-life figure in black mythology -- the pimp. This kind of documentary depends on locating the right talking heads, and the Hughes brothers couldn't have found a better clutch of braggarts and borderline psychos through central casting. Among their stars: Kenny Red, who boasts, "My mouth is an Uzi, and I'm armed and dangerous"; and the elegant Fillmore Slim, a relic of the old streets of San Francisco.

With music-video panache, American Pimp covers all the expected territory, from financial arrangements to street style. Yet the shrewd directors have more in mind. In capitalist America, they argue, a pimp lurks inside every tailored suit; as one procurer proclaims, "The street game is the only game the white man can't control." Featuring more exterior shots of DC landmarks than a West Wing episode, Pimp unfolds stealthily. You can't help laughing at the sheer ballsiness of these hustlers, but after an hour of self-justification, you're more likely to be cringing. By then the filmmakers have introduced the voices of the "bitches" and "ho's" in indentured servitude. Rather than ask the toughest questions directly, American Pimp lets abrupt editing or a lingering close-up do the job. It's a subtle strategy -- too subtle for men who don't know the meaning of the word.

--Scott Heller

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