The “Chris Rock Show,” which started on HBO in 1997, has featured a character named Pootie Tang (played by Lance Crouthier), whose speech is in a patois that is unintelligible. Not just two or three odd phrases, as in The Lion King (1994). All Pootie Tang’s speech is in a pseudo-Swahili tongue Tang. Lance Crouthier, who plays the part, writes the lines and other material for The Chris Rock Show. Now Paramount Pictures has produced a film Pootie Tang, directed by Louis C. K., who is a cowriter and coproducer of The Chris Rock Show. The various characters from The Chris Rock Show are introduced early in the film for the uninitiated by Pootie Tang’s sidekick Trucky (played by JB Smith). We learn that Pootie Tang’s father (played by Chris Rock) was a strict disciplinarian, who used a magic belt to outfight any challenger and passed his belt onto Pootie Tang before he died. In due course, Pootie Tang becomes a hero throughout the land because he is a cool cat. He discourages the youth of the land from eating fast food, drinking alcohol, and indulging in drugs. However, the profits of Corporate America have been plummeting as Pootie Tang’s star has been rising. Accordingly, Dick Lecter (played by Robert Vaughan), CEO of Chicago-based Lecter Corporation, is unhappy because the youth of America is following Pootie Tang’s advice. Accordingly, Lecter tries to bribe Pootie Tang to provide product endorsements for Lecter Corporation’s unhealthy food. Pootie Tang refuses, so Lecter engages Ireenie (played by Jennifer Coolidge) to seduce Pootie Tang and rob him of his secret power. First, Ireenie seduces Trucky, who reveals that Pootie Tang’s secret power is in his belt. Then Ireenie seduces Pootie Tang and steals his belt. Just as Delilah made Samson weak by cutting off his hair, Pootie Tang is forced to sign a contract with Lecter. The good people of the land are disappointed, as Pootie Tang now supports all that he hitherto opposed. Pootie Tang and Trucky even retreat to Greenville, Mississippi, to become farmers in order to escape the opprobrium. Soon, Trucky quits; farming is too much work for him. Then, all alone, Pootie Tang falls into a delirium from all the hard work, and the spirit of his father speaks to him from a cornstalk, urging him to return to Chicago to right the wrongs of the world, or at least those of Lecter Corporation. Naturally, Pootie Tang follows his father’s advice, and vanquishes the evil Lecter. But the plot is not really what is fascinating about the story. What may be appealing to young African American filmviewers is that Pootie Tang may provide a role model for the youth – in the way he talks, how he walks, and the clothes he wears. The hilarious lines of the other characters are what makes Pootie Tang an uncartoonized replay of The Lion King, but this time the people support Pootie Tang because he is a democrat opposing the greed of Corporate America rather than the caste system and monarchy celebrated in The Lion King. Unfortunately, those who watch will tune into the humor, the patois, and the costuming, while tuning out the important message, because the plot is too silly for the film to be taken seriously. MH