Synopsis
Fraternity and sorority members clash with other students at a historically black college during homecoming weekend.
Votre Filmothèque
Cast
- Laurence FishburneVaughn 'Dap' Dunlap
- Giancarlo EspositoJulian 'Dean Big Brother Almighty' Eaves
- Tisha CampbellJane Toussaint
- Ossie DavisCoach Odom
- Joe SenecaPresident Harold McPherson
- Art EvansCedar Cloud
- Ellen HollyOdrie McPherson
- Bill NunnGrady
- Spike LeeDarrell 'Half-Pint' Dunlap
- KymeRachel Meadows
Recommandations
- 88
Chicago Sun-Times
Although the film has big structural problems and leaves a lot of loose ends, there was never a moment when it didn’t absorb me, because I felt as if I was watching the characters talk to one another, instead of to me. - 88
LarsenOnFilm
The fact that Columbia Pictures produced this is hugely significant. It’s not only that School Daze is written and directed by an African-American filmmaker; it’s that it offers a black perspective outside of genre (blaxploitation) or historical fiction. - 80
Los Angeles Times
And though School Daze isn't as successful as the more modestly scaled "She's Gotta Have It," in the end, it may be even more rewarding and promising. The movie's seemingly twisted view of higher education suggests a straight eye, a cool mind, a steady heart--and a great aim. - 75
Slant Magazine
School Daze is, if nothing else, a compelling time capsule of racial politics in the late ‘80s, ethnographically sealed-off in a hothouse micro-environment (an all-black college campus) that’s as constrictive as Lee’s varying plot threads and stylistic whims are profuse. - 50
The New York Times
Neither this anger nor Mr. Lee's daring is ever given free rein. Instead of a sharp satire or even an "Animal House" variation (since fraternity life is central to its story), School Daze is a collection of musical numbers, dramatic episodes, attempts at parody and cinematic wild cards, bound together only loosely by Mr. Lee's prevailing sense of outrage. - 50
Chicago Tribune
Despite a few high-spirited sequences, School Daze succumbs to preachiness and choppiness. It's a movie with too much to say and not enough style to say it with. [12 Feb 1988, p.0] - 30
Washington Post
A didactic collegiate farce -- "Animal House" with pan-African politics, and an enormously embarrassing encore. Tell an inexperienced director he's a genius, and you create Dr. Frankenstein. School Daze, with its pompous patchwork plot, is an arrogant, humorless, sexist mess. - 30
Variety
As a director, Lee fails to strike the right note between realism and fantasy, and the heavy subject matter just falls with a thud. As an actor, however, Lee does a good job creating a sort of black babe in the woods.
