Review: One Night in Vegas

I've been constantly impressed by ESPN's "30 for 30" documentary series, even if it was conceived by someone who I think is flailing artistically.* But it has been mostly entertaining and thought-provoking. When I heard there was going to be an episode about the night Tupac was shot, and the parallels between the rapper and Mike Tyson, my DVR couldn't be set fast enough.

*Two things here. First, Bill Simmons has been an idol of mine and is the reason I got into sports writing, along with Hunter S. Thompson. I still read him and enjoy his columns. But my second thought is that he has given up and been generally lazy since becoming semi-famous. He has replaced columns with podcasts, and lost a ton of respect from me since I learned that he blocks anyone on Twitter that says anything remotely bad about him. I'm not bitter, I just disagree with the thought process there. The only other person I know that does this is Jason Whitlock. I fear for Simmons' career.

I was very excited for "One Night In Vegas". Gauging from the other docs, I was ready for some inside info and details I never knew about concerning Tupac's death.

None of that was there.

Basically, "One Night In Vegas" was nothing more than stylistic masturbation, trying hard as hell to force the white audience to accept as many urban stereotypes as possible. Testimonials from leaders in the black community such as Maya Angelou and Michael Eric Dyson served little purpose other than to shout "THIS IS ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE". Same was the reasoning for interrupting the story with less-than-impressive "poets", who evoked images of auction blocks during Def Poetry-esque rants that brought nothing to the narrative at all.

I know a lot of these "30 for 30" episodes are about posturing and embellishment (such as last week's "Little Big Men", who tried to persuade us that Little League baseball saved America in the 80s), but damn. Anyone who has ever been remotely interested in Tupac* knows all of the facts presented here. What was the point?

*As someone who doesn't listen to a lot of rap, Tupac has always been my favorite artist. I completely buy into the fact that he was a misguided and misunderstood philosopher of sorts. I also believe he was an extremely important figure in black culture at the time. But not everything written or filmed about him is as deep as the man himself.

There is no point, as I can see. The film spent most of its allotted hour explaining to us who Tupac and Tyson were (again, proving that this was directed towards a white audience). The night of importance was merely a fact getting in the way of the director's intention: shoving Tupac and Tyson's culture in the face of ESPN viewers.

This was a disservice. I would love to know more about what happened that night, more about the feuds between Death Row Records and gangs, and how it all came crashing down on that fateful night. But this film wasn't about that. This film wasn't about anything.