Spike Lee brings the Broadway hit "Passing Strange: The Musical" to the movie scene, telling the story of a middle-class African American on the cusp of self-discovery. Stew, the narrator, tells the story of a youth (Daniel Breaker) who seeks to find his calling in art and music, not in the shackles of LA with his mother (Eisa Davis), but in the world of sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll in Amsterdam and Berlin.

Now if you know anything about me whatsoever, you know I'm a huge fan of musicals. I hadn't heard much of Passing Strange other than a brief Tony mention in the past (Best Book), so knowing little of the show, I went into the theatre with empty expectations.

"Passing Strange: The Movie" is a little misleading to me. My thoughts were that Spike Lee had taken the core of "Passing Strange: The Musical" and turned it into a movie. Rather than do that, he actually filmed the last 3 Broadway performances, in addition to some non-attended performances of certain scenes to get different angles and such that weren't possible with an audience. What we're left with is a true representation of the Broadway show, with Broadway actors and actresses without a Broadway price.

So how's the actual movie/play? Well... it's odd... It's definitely very artistic and very long. Personally, I don't identify much with any of the characters. The music is good, catchy, but sometimes feels like it's dragging on with its repetitiveness. The stage is typically pretty bare, with a neat arrangement of the band and some impressive lights for the different locations. The "chorus" is reused quite a bit; many of them playing different vital roles, which caused a little confusion towards the beginning of the show for me, as I wasn't sure if the characters were the same or a new character.

So what's Spike Lee's role in all this? Well, he picked the angles for the scenes, as well as putting together the whole documentary (as it's sometimes referred to). There are some interesting effects added as well, included film footage from a camera actually used as a prop during the show. In addition, many scenes had added effects to make the drug scenes seem more "trippy" or whatnot. Being able to see the audience at times was an interesting effect, in that it allowed us to see their reactions to what was going on the stage, however, it also distanced us as the movie viewer from them as the stage viewer in a way, if that makes any sense. At the end of the 1st act, during the intermission, Spike Lee adds a behind-the-scenes view of the actors off-stage prepping their new characters and getting a breather. Normally I'd think that's pretty cool, but putting it in the middle of the film broke up the flow and kind of showed the actors out of character, which I found to be a bit of a detractor.

Overall, the show is decent. The film is a true-to-Broadway version in that it is the Broadway version. The band and music is pretty cool (Stew and his friend Heidi). I felt it was very long (over 2 hours ) and we didn't get the intermission like the audience did. I also felt that seeing it as a film, you don't feel the energy that a live performance pushes on you, which gives the play more of a dull feeling than I think I would get if I were to sit in the actual show. I'd say if you're an avid Broadway fan who's seen every musical, but this one, see it in the theatre, otherwise rent it.