A Hilarious, Nostalgic, and Often Disquieting Comedy Masterpiece. May be Spike Lee's Best

Rating: 10/10 (15 March 2019)

A black guy goes undercover in the Ku Klux Klan. Sounds like the setup of a joke. Or one hell of a comedy. And indeed it is. But more than just a hilarious comedy, Spike Lee's Blackkklansmen is also an excellent cop movie and a moving, surprisingly nuanced statement on race in America.
For much of its runtime Blackkklansmen is an engaging, frequently tense police procedural in which careful police work and a knack for thinking on their feet allows the protagonists to worm their way into the Klan. But when it switches gears and goes for laughs it's absolutely hysterical. The phone calls with the Klan feel like sitting in on history's greatest crank calls, and this movie can even turn a racially motivated bombing into an over the top farce. Plus there's even a charming love story that doesn't feel forced or tacked on.
Lee has a real gift for editing and composition. I wouldn't have expected a speech by a former Black Panther to be one of the high points of the movie, but the masterful cinematography gave it a power on par with Capra.
John D Washington and Adam Driver have excellent chemistry as officers Ron Stallworth and 'Flip' Zimmerman; Washington brings an over the top swagger and perfect comedic timing while Driver remains absolutely deadpan no matter how ridiculous the situation. Topher Grace is wonderful as a surprisingly unassuming, mild mannered, and rather nervous David Duke. For a racist demagogue he's a pretty likeable guy.
The period touches are pervasive and coupled with a heavy helping of warm nostalgia. Between the clothes, the hair, and the soundtrack, it's like stepping back into the age of jive.
Of course some historical liberties have been taken to liven things up. In real life the Klan never detonated or even completed a bomb, nor did they ever suspect they'd been infiltrated until well after the investigation was completed. I can't vouch for the accuracy of the romantic sublot either. But yes, a black guy really did go undercover in the KKK, he really did have multiple lengthy conversations with David Duke, and it was every bit as funny as depicted here.
If this movie has a weakness, it's some overly obvious references to the current president. It's one thing for David Duke to say that the Klan is trying to make America great again. It's another for a room full of people to chant "America First!" at length, particularly given that this was not a Klan slogan at the time. The ending is also kind of a downer, but I suppose we live in fraught times, and it wouldn't be a Spike Lee movie if there wasn't a little grandstanding.
It's a shame more of his movies don't turn out this good.