'Block Party' film entertains

DAVE CHAPPELLE'S BLOCK PARTY — *** — Concert film featuring Dave Chappelle, the Fugees, Kanye West and others; rated R (profanity, vulgarity, racial epithets, brief drugs).

Much of the all-ages, all-races appeal of comedian Dave Chappelle comes from his ability to mix both high-brow and low-brow elements into his humor.

Both aspects of his comedy are on prominent display in "Dave Chappelle's Block Party," an amiable, amusing vehicle for the comic that is as much a documentary as it is a concert film.

Filmmaker Michel Gondry ("Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind") examines Chappelle's attempts in 2004 to organize a free concert that will feature some of his musician friends, including Kanye West, rapper-turned-actor Mos Def and the Roots.

Chappelle also has to find a venue, and a rundown Brooklyn cul-de-sac seems to fit the bill. The residents there are happy just to receive some attention.

Once that's done, Chappelle also has to find a way to get the 5,000 or so mostly black invitees to his show — as well as a handful of invited residents of his hometown, Dayton, Ohio.

He also talks the Central State University (Ohio) Marching Band into canceling a previously scheduled performance elsewhere, and the student musicians seem much more excited about the block party than their other obligations anyway.

Chappelle serves as the film's main subject, narrator and an amused observer, as he watches the concert from his perch atop a nearby elementary school. But the movie could have used more of Chappelle's actual performances and a little less of the same-sounding hip-hop music numbers.

Still, there are a few transcendent musical moments too, especially during the reunion of the dearly missed hip-hop act the Fugees. And Lauryn Hill's show-stopping rendition of "Killing Me Softly" is unquestionably the high point of the film.

"Dave Chappelle's Block Party" is rated R for use of strong sexual profanity, some crude sexual references and other crude humor, use of a few racial epithets and some brief drug content (mainly drug references). Running time: 100 minutes.

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