
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, August 20, 1994                   TAG: 9408230028
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

`BLANKMAN' IS WEAK COMEDY

"Blankman" is an uneven little comedy that wastes a potentially interesting premise. There are a few bright, funny scenes, but they really aren't enough to recommend it.

Set in Chicago, it's about Darryl Walker (Damon Wayans), an innocent man-child who invents a bulletproof fabric, and then tries to turn himself into a superhero. His big brother Kevin (David Alan Grier) is the boss in the family after their grandmother (Lynn Thigpen) is murdered.

That subplot, involving a crooked political boss (Jon Polito) and a crusading young mayor (Christopher Lawford), is never more than half-baked, though it's fairly important to the film. It's also the reason that TV newswoman Kimberly Jonz (Robin Givens) enters the story.

She's attracted to Blankman, as Darryl winds up being called, even though he's a crimefighter who runs around in a union suit, rubber gloves, an old towel for a cape and a mask made out of a sock. The scenes between the two of them are the best in the film. One is a night ride on the El, followed by a visit to Blankman's junk-filled "fortress of solitude," a wonderful creation by production design er James Spencer.

The main problems with the film are an unfocused script by Wayans and J.F. Lawton and an uncontrolled performance by the star. Wayans may have seen one too many Jerry Lewis movies, or perhaps he didn't get the help he needed from director Mike Binder.

There's also the question of tone. Much of the film seems to be aimed at a pre-teen to teen-age audience. But the dialogue is filled with profanity (a lot for a PG-13 rating) and some sexual references that seem out of place. If the film had gone farther in either direction - toward a rougher, more realistic approach or toward a more conventional fantasy - it might have been more successful.

Damon Wayans has yet to find the right vehicle to take his comedy to the big screen. For now, it looks like his best work will continue to be on television's "In Living Color."

Blankman

A Columbia release playing at the ... 92 min. Rated PG-13 for strong language, sexual humor, some violence.

by CNB