She Hate Me

Last updated

She Hate Me
She Hate Me film poster.jpeg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Spike Lee
Screenplay by Michael Genet
Spike Lee
Story byMichael Genet
Produced bySpike Lee
Preston Holmes
Fernando Sulichin
Starring
Cinematography Matthew Libatique
Edited by Barry Alexander Brown
Music by Terence Blanchard
Production
company
Distributed by Sony Pictures Classics
Release date
  • July 30, 2004 (2004-07-30)
Running time
138 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$9 million [1]
Box office$1.5 million [2]

She Hate Me is a 2004 American independent comedy drama film directed by Spike Lee and starring Anthony Mackie, Kerry Washington, Ellen Barkin, Monica Bellucci, Brian Dennehy, Woody Harrelson, Bai Ling, and John Turturro. The film touches on a variety of themes such as corporate greed, race, sexuality, and politics. As with many of Lee's films, the film garnered controversy. Unlike many prior works, Spike Lee does not have an acting credit in this film.

Contents

The film was shot mostly on location in New York City, including each of the city's five boroughs. It was released on July 30, 2004, and grossed almost half a million dollars at the North American box office in limited release, with a worldwide revenue of $1.5 million.

Plot

John Henry "Jack" Armstrong is a financially successful and upwardly mobile executive at a biotechnology firm who, following the suicide of a colleague, Dr. Herman Schiller, is falsely accused of securities fraud by his superior, Leland Powell. Armstrong's assets are frozen, and he finds himself unable to maintain his quality of life.

In order to make ends meet, he becomes a sperm donor, initially by acquiescing to the desires of Fatima Goodrich, his ex-fiancée who came out as a lesbian and now wants a child. There is still unresolved bitterness and tension between them over Armstrong and Goodrich's prior relationship, as before coming out, Armstrong discovered her cheating on him with another woman. Goodrich and her girlfriend, Alex Guerrero, offer Armstrong a substantial sum of money to impregnate them both. This leads to Goodrich goading Armstrong into establishing a business in which groups of lesbians come over to his house and pay him $10,000 each to have sex with them in order to become pregnant. This business becomes a success, along with many of the women enjoying the intercourse with him.

One of the women whom Armstrong impregnates is the daughter of a mafia boss, Don Angelo Bonasera. Armstrong's employers learn of his impregnation business, and they use it in their campaign to sully his image in order to deflect attention from their own criminal business activities. Conflict is also depicted in the turbulent relationship between Armstrong's mother and his dependent diabetic father.

Armstrong's situation is portrayed as a cause célèbre , with protests being held in support of or against him, and the news media interviewing people on the street with respect to his sexual activities. Armstrong is called before a committee of the United States Senate investigating his alleged securities fraud, where both his services to lesbians and his relationship to the "Bonasera crime family" are raised.

Armstrong's situation is compared, to the plight of Frank Wills, the security guard who discovered the break-in that led to the Watergate scandal, which brought down President Nixon. He eventually wins the case and is seen with nineteen of the children he helped conceive. Powell, meanwhile, is eventually arrested for his crimes.

Armstrong and Goodrich come to terms with their lingering feelings for one another, and with the mutual attraction they share for Guerrero. They then begin a three-way polyamorous relationship, and Armstrong apparently maintains a friendship with all of the eighteen women who became pregnant by him.

Cast

Production

Spike Lee based the title of the film on XFL football player Rod Smart, who gained some notoriety by nicknaming himself "He Hate Me". [3] The main character in the film references Smart when explaining why he has decided to nickname his ex-fiancée "She Hate Me". [3] The title words of this film were originally spoken by Boris Karloff's Monster in response to the revulsion of Elsa Lanchester seeing him for the first time in the climax of Bride of Frankenstein . [4]

Before filming, Lee hired lesbian author and sex columnist Tristan Taormino as a consultant. [5] [6] Taormino put Lee through "lesbian boot camp", in which she taught him about lesbian life through books, visits to lesbian bars, and panel discussions. [5]

Filming, which was done on Super 16, took place in 28 days [1] in New York City. [7] The film featured a close-up scene of a real human birth, similarly to Lee's 1990 film Mo' Better Blues . [8]

Raul Midon sang the theme song for the movie, "Adam 'N' Eve 'N' Eve". [9] In the film, Armstrong's brother disapproves of his impregnating lesbians and also uses the phrase "Adam 'N' Eve 'N' Eve.

Reception

Box office

The film grossed a total of $1,522,377 at the box office. [2]

Critical response

She Hate Me received a sharply negative reaction from film critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has an approval rating of 19% based on 103 reviews, with an average score of 4.10/10. The site's critic consensus reads, "She Hate Me can't decide if it wants to be a commentary on corporate greed or a sex farce". [10] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 30 out of 100 based on 37 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". [11]

Many of the criticisms were focused on the film's messaging and the excesses of the plot. [12] [13] Roger Ebert noted, "She Hate Me contains enough for five movies, but has no idea which of those movies it wants to be. [14] Some critics called it offensive, with Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly giving the film an "F" grade and writing it "manages to be at once racist, homophobic, utterly fake, and unbearably tedious. This time, it's Spike Lee who's doing the bamboozling." [15] Wesley Morris of The Boston Globe opined, "the movie is rude and ridiculous, fearless up to a point, and breathtakingly hungry to provoke", but it "struggles between the audaciousness of its premise and an underlying defensiveness. The title...sounds like a jokey rebuke to people who've called Lee a misogynist. Yet when Lee tries to sober up She Hate Me with apology, to stitch a heart on its sleeve, the movie feels untrue to itself." [16]

The film also generated controversy for its depiction of lesbian women and for portraying them as wanting to have sex with a man for procreative purposes. Trinidadian poet Erica Doyle commented that at the film's center is "an extensive male fantasy of having sex with lots of women — women who are usually inaccessible to most men." [5] In response, Tristan Taormino said the film is not meant to represent all lesbians, while Lee explained that if the film showed lesbians having children in other ways, such as through adoption or IVF, it would not be as cinematically interesting. [5] Lee added, "[Tristan] said, 'Spike, there's no way in the world you can make a film that every lesbian likes.' I'm glad she said that. It made me realize that lesbians are like any other group. They're not monolithic." [5]

On the other hand, Stella Papamichael of the BBC called the film "fascinating from start to finish," [17] and Scott Foundas of Variety lauded it as "a scabrous, provocative and often funny social satire" with praise for the film's ensemble cast. [18] Roger Ebert was also one of the few critics to give a positive review, awarding it three stars out of four. [14]

Ebert wrote the film "will get some terrible reviews. Scorched earth reviews. Its logic, style, presumption and sexual politics will be ridiculed. [...] Many of the things you read in those reviews may be true from a conventional point of view. Most of the critics will be on safe ground. I will seem to be wrong. Seeming to be wrong about this movie is one of the most interesting things I've done recently." [14]

Ebert argued Lee knows the lesbian plot line is absurd, but uses it to "confront the pious liberal horror about such concepts as the inexhaustible black stud." [14] He ultimately said the film "is alive and confrontational and aggressively in our face, and the man who made it has abandoned all caution, even to the point of refusing to signal his intentions, to put in a wink to let us see he knows what he's doing...She Hate Me invites anger and analysis about the stereotypes it appears to celebrate; a film that attacked those stereotypes would inspire yawns. Think what you want on an Politically Correct level, but concede that She Hate Me is audacious and recklessly risky." [14]

Later criticism reexamined and discussed the film's themes. In an essay for Little White Lies , Erik Nielsen argued the film was misunderstood at the time of its release and that it is "a funny, sometimes ridiculous, yet ultimately insightful commentary on race inside American capitalism." [19] Liam Carroll of The Spool posited that in making Jack an object available for women, Lee is "perhaps...trying to turn the objectification of women on its head: Jack often strips for his clients, who woo and scream and goad him on...Or perhaps Lee is commenting on the hoary old stereotype of the black male's alleged potent sexual virility. Problem is, this all falls apart when you bring in the lesbian factor. If these were straight women ogling Jack and using him as a mere sperm bank, then that would be one thing, but making these women lesbians feels nonsensical at best, and reductive at worst." Carroll concluded the themes of corporate greed and sexual mores were more effectively explored in Lee's previous works. [20]

Award nominations

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spike Lee</span> American filmmaker (born 1957)

Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and author. His work has continually explored race relations, issues within the black community, the role of media in contemporary life, urban crime and poverty, and other political issues. Lee has won numerous accolades for his work, including an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, a BAFTA Award, and two Peabody Awards. He has also been honored with an Honorary BAFTA Award in 2002, an Honorary César in 2003, and the Academy Honorary Award in 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger Ebert</span> American film critic and author (1942–2013)

Roger Joseph Ebert was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. Ebert was known for his intimate, Midwestern writing voice and critical views informed by values of populism and humanism. Writing in a prose style intended to be entertaining and direct, he made sophisticated cinematic and analytical ideas more accessible to non-specialist audiences. Ebert frequently endorsed foreign and independent films he believed would be appreciated by mainstream viewers, which often resulted in such films receiving greater exposure. In 1975, Ebert became the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. Neil Steinberg of the Chicago Sun-Times said Ebert "was without question the nation's most prominent and influential film critic," and Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times called him "the best-known film critic in America."

<i>Chasing Amy</i> 1997 American romantic comedy-drama film by Kevin Smith

Chasing Amy is a 1997 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Kevin Smith and starring Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams, and Jason Lee. The third film in Smith's View Askewniverse series, the film is about a male comic artist (Affleck) who falls in love with a lesbian (Adams), to the displeasure of his best friend (Lee).

<i>Do the Right Thing</i> 1989 film by Spike Lee

Do the Right Thing is a 1989 American comedy-drama film produced, written and directed by Spike Lee. It stars Lee, Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Bill Nunn, John Turturro and Samuel L. Jackson and is the feature film debut of Martin Lawrence and Rosie Perez. The story explores a Brooklyn neighborhood's simmering racial tension between its African-American residents and the Italian-American owners of a local pizzeria, culminating in tragedy and violence on a hot summer's day.

<i>Bound</i> (1996 film) 1996 American film by the Wachowskis

Bound is a 1996 American neo-noir crime thriller film written and directed by the Wachowskis in their feature film directorial debut. Violet, who longs to escape her relationship with her mafioso boyfriend Caesar, enters into a clandestine affair with alluring ex-con Corky, and the two women hatch a scheme to steal $2 million of Mafia money.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Facial (sexual act)</span> Sexual activity involving ejaculating on the face of another

A facial is a sexual activity in which a man ejaculates semen onto the face of one or more sexual partners. A facial is a form of non-penetrative sex, though it is generally performed after some other means of sexual stimulation, such as vaginal sex, anal sex, oral sex, manual sex or masturbation. Facials are regularly portrayed in pornographic films and videos, often as a way to close a scene.

<i>Basic Instinct</i> 1992 erotic thriller film by Paul Verhoeven

Basic Instinct is a 1992 neo-noir erotic thriller film directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Joe Eszterhas. Starring Michael Douglas, Sharon Stone, George Dzundza, Jeanne Tripplehorn, and Wayne Knight, the film follows San Francisco police detective Nick Curran (Douglas) as he investigates the brutal murder of a wealthy rock star. During the course of the investigation, Curran becomes entangled in a passionate and intense relationship with Catherine Tramell (Stone), an enigmatic writer and the prime suspect.

<i>25th Hour</i> 2002 film by Spike Lee

25th Hour is a 2002 American drama film directed by Spike Lee and starring Edward Norton. Adapted by David Benioff from his own 2001 debut novel The 25th Hour, it tells the story of a man's last 24 hours of freedom as he prepares to go to prison for seven years for dealing drugs.

<i>But Im a Cheerleader</i> 1999 film by Jamie Babbit

But I'm a Cheerleader is a 1999 American satirical teen romantic comedy film directed by Jamie Babbit in her feature directorial debut and written by Brian Wayne Peterson. Natasha Lyonne stars as Megan Bloomfield, a high school cheerleader whose parents send her to a residential in-patient conversion therapy camp to "cure" her lesbianism. At camp, Megan realizes that she is indeed a lesbian and, despite the "therapy", comes to embrace her sexuality. The supporting cast includes Clea DuVall, RuPaul, and Cathy Moriarty.

<i>The Opposite of Sex</i> 1998 American film

The Opposite of Sex is a 1998 American romantic black comedy film written and directed by Don Roos, and starring Christina Ricci, Martin Donovan and Lisa Kudrow. A directorial debut for Roos, it marked the final film produced by Rysher Entertainment. Shortly before the film’s world premiere at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, it was acquired by Sony Pictures Classics. The tagline: "You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll be offended."

<i>Girl 6</i> 1996 film by Spike Lee

Girl 6 is a 1996 American black comedy film produced and directed by Spike Lee. The film stars Theresa Randle, Isaiah Washington, and Lee. Suzan-Lori Parks wrote the screenplay, making it the first film directed by Lee that he did not also write. Directors Quentin Tarantino and Ron Silver make cameo appearances as film directors at a pair of interesting auditions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tristan Taormino</span> American author, columnist and adult film director

Tristan Taormino is an American feminist author, columnist, sex educator, activist, editor, speaker, radio host, and pornographic film director. She is most recently known for her book Opening Up: A Guide to Creating and Sustaining Open Relationships, which is often recommended as a starter guide to polyamory and non-monogamy.

<i>Shes Gotta Have It</i> 1986 American comedy drama film by Spike Lee

She's Gotta Have It is a 1986 American black-and-white comedy drama film written, produced, edited and directed by Spike Lee. Filmed on a small budget and Lee's first feature-length film to be released, it earned positive reviews and launched Lee's career.

<i>My Summer of Love</i> 2004 British film

My Summer of Love is a 2004 British drama film directed by Paweł Pawlikowski and co-written by Pawlikowski and Michael Wynne. Based on the 2001 novel of the same name by Helen Cross, the film explores the romantic relationship between two young women from different classes and backgrounds. Working class Mona, whose once-hotheaded brother Phil became a born again Christian in prison, meets upper middle class Tamsin who suffers from a lack of love in her family. Filmed in West Yorkshire, the film went on to win a BAFTA.

<i>Lost and Delirious</i> 2001 film by Léa Pool

Lost and Delirious is a 2001 Canadian drama film directed by Léa Pool, and based on the novel The Wives of Bath by Susan Swan. Lost and Delirious is told from the perspective of Mary, who observes the changing love between her two teenage friends, Pauline and Victoria. The film premiered at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony Mackie</span> American actor

Anthony Dwane Mackie is an American actor. Mackie made his film debut starring in the semi-biographical drama film 8 Mile (2002). He was later nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Actor for his performance in the LGBT drama Brother to Brother (2004), and in the same year, appeared in psychological thriller The Manchurian Candidate, the Spike Lee TV film Sucker Free City, and the sports film Million Dollar Baby. Mackie starred in Half Nelson (2006); in 2008, Mackie both appeared in the action thriller Eagle Eye and was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Hurt Locker. He portrayed Tupac Shakur in Notorious (2009) and later starred in Night Catches Us (2010), and The Adjustment Bureau and Real Steel.

Feminist pornography is a genre of film developed by or for those within the sex-positive feminist movement. It was created for the purpose of promoting gender equality by portraying more bodily movements and sexual fantasies of women and members of the LGBT community.

Michael Genet is an American actor and screenwriter. He has guest starred in a number of television series based in the New York City area, they include The Equalizer, New York Undercover, Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Ugly Betty and the soap operas As the World Turns, One Life to Live.

References

  1. 1 2 McGrath, Charles (July 29, 2004). "He Makes His Own Movies (Just Don't Try To Label Him)". The New York Times . Retrieved November 18, 2022.
  2. 1 2 "She Hate Me (2004)". Box Office Mojo . Retrieved March 25, 2013.
  3. 1 2 Lacey, Liam (August 13, 2004). "She Hate Me *". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved November 18, 2022.
  4. ↑ "She Hate Me". The Georgia Straight. August 12, 2004. Retrieved November 18, 2022.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Younge, Gary (August 16, 2004). "Some lesbians hate 'She Hate Me'". salon. Archived from the original on June 24, 2013. Retrieved November 18, 2022.
  6. ↑ Fischer, Paul (July 30, 2004). "Spike Lee for "She Hate Me"". Dark Horizons. Retrieved November 18, 2022.
  7. ↑ "She Hate Me Film Locations - [otsoNY.com]". onthesetofnewyork.com. Retrieved November 18, 2022.
  8. ↑ Epstein, Daniel Robert (August 3, 2004). "Spike Lee Believes SHE HATE ME..." Screenwriter's Utopia. Retrieved November 18, 2022.
  9. ↑ "She Hate Me: Music composed by Terence Blanchard: Film Music on the Web CD Reviews September 2004". www.musicweb-international.com. Retrieved November 18, 2022.
  10. ↑ "She Hate Me (2004)". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved August 6, 2023.
  11. ↑ "She Hate Me". Metacritic . Retrieved November 17, 2022.
  12. ↑ Lane, Anthony (August 2, 2004). "She Hate Me". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on August 3, 2004. Retrieved November 17, 2022.
  13. ↑ Thomson, Desson (August 20, 2004). "Lee's 'She Hate Me': No Love". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 18, 2022.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 Ebert, Roger (August 6, 2004). "Much to hate, plenty to love in 'She Hate Me'". Chicago Sun-Times . Retrieved May 4, 2022– via RogerEbert.com.
  15. ↑ Gleiberman, Owen (July 28, 2004). "She Hate Me". EW.com. Retrieved November 18, 2022.
  16. ↑ Morris, Wesley (August 6, 2004). "'She Hate Me' doesn't offer a lot to love". Boston Globe. Archived from the original on August 21, 2004. Retrieved November 18, 2022.
  17. ↑ Papamichael, Stella (September 19, 2004). "She Hate Me". BBC. Retrieved November 18, 2022.
  18. ↑ Foundas, Scott (July 25, 2004). "She Hate Me". Variety. Retrieved November 18, 2022.
  19. ↑ Erik Nielsen (June 10, 2020). "Why Spike Lee's She Hate Me deserves a second look". Little White Lies. Retrieved November 18, 2022.
  20. ↑ Carroll, Liam (March 24, 2020). ""She Hate Me" Has Spike Lee Shooting Blanks". The Spool. Retrieved November 18, 2022.
  21. ↑ "Past Nominees & Winners by Category". Black Reel Awards. Retrieved November 18, 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.