Billed as "a provocative exploration of race, sex and hip-hop," writer-director James Toback's "Black and White" is by most accounts an ambitious attempt to examine white fascination with black popular culture. To do so, the film "follows a group of white, privileged New York City teens and their reckless fascination with uptown hip-hop culture."

After cutting back an opening interracial sex scene to avoid an NC-17 rating--see the original scene here-- Toback reportedly has delivered his "'Nashville' wannabe," a film in which "worlds collide --black and white, wealthy and wanting, uptown and downtown--until it becomes clear that nobody is really who they seem to be." At the very least, Toback has enlisted an Altmanesque cast, including indie-icon-turned-Playboy-pictorial Bijou Phillips, Mike Tyson, Wu-Tang Clan members Power and Raekwon, Brooke Shields, and old friend Robert Downey Jr., whose character is billed as "intriguingly unhinged." Indeed.

However oddly fascinating "Black and White" turns out to be, some critics say they liked the film better when it was called "Bulworth," and that Toback is too pretentious and out of touch with the hood to get his well-intentioned message across. So, is the film a flawed masterpiece or an over-the-top failure? It's definitely not a black-and-white decision.

Frank Sennett

Newcity.com affiliates race in with reviews of "Black and White":

THE WHITE STUFF
"Black and White" was supposed to explore white America's infatuation with hip-hop culture, but racial stereotypes got in the way

MIXING IT UP
Try as it might, "Black and White" never brings the story into focus

POWER PRISM
Despite its shortcomings, "Black and White" is an interesting and often powerful film

IMPROVISED MAYHEM
James Toback works hard to get in your face

LOSING THE RACE
"Black and White" tries to examine cultural curiosity but fails miserably

SHADES OF GRAY
"Black and White" plays fast and loose with reality while exploring New York culture

WHITER SHADE OF PALE
"Black and White" stumbles with its racial equation issues

IN SEARCH OF COOL
The vapid preppies in "Black and White" crave a dose of hip-hop menace

COLOR BLINDED
"Black and White" stumbles with its racial equation issues

SEEING WHAT STICKS
"Black and White" is a fascinating, perplexing, amusing and irascible look at issues of race, class and hip-hop in modern-day New York City

NOT QUITE HIP
"Black and White" says smart things about hip-hop, but it's rooted in the same old stereotypes

TOUGH QUESTIONS
"Black and White" asks, Can you be ghetto without living in the ghetto?

MONOCHROME
Instead of looking at hip-hop, "Black and White" gawks at interracial sex

COLORING OUTSIDE THE LINES
"Black and White" ranks among the most provocative American films in recent years, until it falls apart in the second half

JUNGLE NAUSEA
James Toback's latest film is packed with stereotypes, and the plot sickens

FAUX JIGGY
James Toback's all played out with "Black and White"