Editing Booty Call

{{short description|1997 film by Jeff Pollack}}
{{other uses}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Booty Call
| image          = Booty_call_poster.jpg
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| alt            = 
| director       = [[Jeff Pollack]]
| writer         = Bootsie <br />Takashi Bufford
| producer       = {{Plainlist|
* John M. Eckert 
* John Morrissey 
* Karen King 
* [[Lawrence Turman]]
}}
| starring       = {{Plainlist|
* [[Tommy Davidson]]
* [[Jamie Foxx]]
* [[Vivica A. Fox]]
* [[Tamala Jones]]
}}
| cinematography = [[Ron Orieux]]
| editing        = [[Christopher Greenbury]]
| music          = [[Robert Folk]]
| distributor    = [[Columbia Pictures]]
| released       = {{film date|1997|2|26}}
| runtime        = 79 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = $7 million{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}}
| gross          = $20.1 million<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl2957411841/weekend/ |title=Booty Call |website=[[Box Office Mojo]] |access-date=2019-11-29 |archive-date=2020-06-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200623071217/https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl2957411841/weekend/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
}}

'''''Booty Call''''' is a 1997 American [[Buddy film|buddy]] [[comedy film]] directed by [[Jeff Pollack]], and written by J. Stanford Parker (credited as Bootsie) and Takashi Bufford. The film stars [[Tommy Davidson]], [[Jamie Foxx]], [[Vivica A. Fox]], and [[Tamala Jones]].

==Plot==
Rushon Askins, a tender-hearted, upwardly-mobile man, has been dating his self-righteous-to-a-fault girlfriend Nikki for seven weeks. They really like each other, but their relationship has not yet been consummated; Nikki is unsure if their relationship is ready for the next stage.

Rushon asks Nikki out to dinner, but Nikki wants it to be a double date. She brings her opinionated friend and neighbor Lysterine "Lysti", and Rushon comes with his "bad boy" buddy Bunz. Lysti and Bunz soon end up bonding as both are sexually adventurous and completely uninhibited, despite some initial bickering and resentment towards one another as each of them overplayed their roles by trying to come off as a player (Bunz) or overly high-maintenance (Lysti). Meanwhile, the more conservative and prudish Nikki decides it is time for her and Rushon to take their relationship to the next level, much to Rushon's surprise and excitement. However, they have one small problem: this is the 1990s, and Nikki wants to practice safe sex. Rushon produces a condom and just as he removes the wrapper, Nikki's mischievous, poorly trained, small [[terrier]] dog named "Killer" snatches and destroys Rushon's only condom, forcing him to have to go out and buy more condoms. Nikki then calls Lysterine and urges her to make Bunz (also condomless) use a condom as well. Therefore, Rushon (who has to take Killer along for his walk) and Bunz go on wild, late night adventures from store to store trying to find "protection" before everyone's mood evaporates. The two friends run across a wild assortment of characters which includes a Chinese medicine store owner, wacky [[Punjabi people|Punjabi]] convenience store owners, a would-be armed robber, a hypocritical judge ([[Bernie Mac]]) and his female clerk/secret lover, and last but not least, a disobedient Killer who escapes his leash while Rushon and Bunz are in a store and leads them on a blocks-long chase.

Things soon lead to all four friends being at the hospital when Bunz accidentally shoots Rushon in the leg with a gun he took from a paranoid cabbie moments earlier. The group initially encounters a rude, unsympathetic admissions nurse who denies Rushon entry into the hospital because he has no insurance until Bunz runs across a doctor's credentials and impersonates the doctor to get his buddy admitted into the facility. However, "Doctor" Bunz is soon called in to help deliver a baby, which takes priority over a flesh wound, and he loses track of Rushon who is mistaken for a patient who is scheduled to be [[castrated]] (that patient shrewdly switched charts with Rushon upon finding out about his operation). The real doctor whom Bunz is impersonating eventually surfaces which leads the admissions nurse and security to search the hospital for the group. Bunz, Lysterine, and Nikki frantically search for Rushon who is soon anesthetized and prepared for castration. Nikki finds him right before the surgery begins and abruptly stops it by yelling that Rushon has no insurance. As both couples leave the hospital, everyone make up as both women take their men home for some long-delayed, kinky but safe sex.

==Cast==
* [[Tommy Davidson]] – Rushon Askins
* [[Jamie Foxx]] – Bunz
* [[Vivica A. Fox]] – Lysterine
* [[Tamala Jones]] – Nikki
* Amy Monique Waddell – Arguing Woman
* [[Art Malik]] – Akmed
* [[Bernie Mac]] – Judge Peabody
* [[David Hemblen]] – Dr. Blade
* [[Amanda Tapping]] – Dr. Moore
* [[Gedde Watanabe]] – Chan
* [[Karen Robinson]] – Admitting Nurse
* [[Ric Young]] – Mr. Chiu
* Scott LaRose – Singh

==Production==
The original script was heavily rewritten by director Jeff Pollack and Tommy Davidson. Prior to the film's release, it was noted that there were similarities with its condom plot to another film in development, ''[[Trojan War (film)|Trojan War]]'', which featured an all-white cast and which would also be released in 1997.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.filmstories.co.uk/features/the-1997-battle-of-the-competing-condom-movies/|title = The 1997 battle of the competing condom movies|date = 8 December 2020}}</ref><ref name="similar"/> Takashi Bufford said ''Booty Call'' was written entirely without knowledge of ''Trojan War'''s existence and said "Sometimes these things just bubble up from the zeitgeist."<ref name="similar">{{Cite magazine |date=April 26, 1996 |author=Gregg Kilday |title=Similar films |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]] |url=https://ew.com/article/1996/04/26/similar-films/ |access-date=2021-12-29 |archive-date=2021-03-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210304222451/https://ew.com/article/1996/04/26/similar-films/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Soundtrack==
{{main|Booty Call (soundtrack)}}

==Reception==
On [[Rotten Tomatoes]] it has a 31% rating based on reviews from 13 critics.<ref>{{cite web |title=Booty Call (1997) |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/booty_call |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |access-date=2022-05-15 |archive-date=2024-09-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240917224954/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/booty_call |url-status=live }}</ref> 
[[Siskel and Ebert]] gave the film two thumbs up on a 1997 episode of their [[At the Movies (1986 TV program)|program]].<ref name="atthemovies">{{cite book |last1=Ebert |first1=Roger |author-link1=Roger Ebert |last2=Siskel |first2=Gene |title=Private Parts/Hard Eight/Donnie Brasco/Smilla's Sense of Snow/Booty Call |date=1 March 1997 |publisher=Buena Vista Television}}</ref> They praised the crude humor, comparing it to ''[[Beavis and Butt-head]]''.<ref name="atthemovies"/> Ebert in particular said the scenes involving Nikki's pet [[Jack Russell Terrier]] were "very, very funny."<ref name="atthemovies"/> In his review, [[Stephen Holden]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' observed "this contemporary sex farce, directed by Jeff Pollack, has the attention span of a hyperactive child."<ref>{{cite web |date=1997-02-26 |author=STEPHEN HOLDEN |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/film/booty-film-review.html |title=Booty Call |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=2021-02-07 |archive-date=2024-09-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240917224956/https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/film/booty-film-review.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Leonard Klady of ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' labelled it "oddly effective", and said "a mixed bag of street humor, broad, bawdy jokes and [[hip-hop]] music, the film is very much on target to score a bull’s-eye with [[African-American]] auds."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Klady |first=Leonard |date=1997-03-02 |title=Booty Call |url=https://variety.com/1997/film/reviews/booty-call-1117432702/ |access-date=2024-01-30 |website=Variety |language=en-US |archive-date=2024-01-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129012522/https://variety.com/1997/film/reviews/booty-call-1117432702/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

A mixed review at the time came from Mike D'Angelo of ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'' who gave it a C rating.  D'Angelo wrote, "no, ''Booty Call'' has nothing to do with pirates and their ill-gotten gain. Then again, maybe there is: Two modern-day swashbucklers (Jamie Foxx and Tommy Davidson) yearn to plunder two willing maidens (Vivica A. Fox and Tamala Jones), but first they have to locate a couple of sheaths for their swords, if you know what I mean." D'Angelo went on to write, "most of the time, the amiable foursome is left ambling aimlessly from one so-so sketch concept to the next: four characters in search of a comedy."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Booty Call |url=https://ew.com/article/1997/08/08/booty-call/ |access-date=2024-01-30 |website=EW.com |language=en |archive-date=2024-01-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129012517/https://ew.com/article/1997/08/08/booty-call/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Bruce Walker of ''[[The Washington Post]]'' also had a mixed review, writing, "the name is enough to clue you in that this is not highbrow humor. In fact, it will appeal mostly to those who can appreciate basic juvenile humor." He added, "the movie seems more like a series of skits, some of which work and some of which don't."<ref>{{Cite web |title=WashingtonPost.com: 'Booty Call' |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/review97/bootycallwalk.htm |access-date=2024-01-30 |website=www.washingtonpost.com}}</ref>

In a 1997 interview with [[Charlie Rose]], black actor and filmmaker [[Charles S. Dutton]] criticized young African-Americans who went to see ''Booty Call'' rather than the historical drama ''[[Rosewood (film)|Rosewood]]'', which was released around the same time.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://charlierose.com/guests/4620|title=Charles S. Dutton|access-date=2019-12-11|archive-date=2019-12-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191211072447/https://charlierose.com/guests/4620|url-status=live}}</ref> It was later referenced in a 1999 episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]'' titled ''[[Beyond Blunderdome]]'', where a film executive character labels a fictitious [[director's cut]] of ''Booty Call'' as "fabulous".{{Citation needed|reason=[[WP:V]] and [[WP:N]]|date=August 2024}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://web.archive.org/web/19970613224115/http://www.spe.sony.com/Pictures/SonyMovies/features/booty.html Official website]
* {{IMDb title|id=0118750|title=Booty Call}}
* [http://www.discogs.com/Various-Booty-Call-Music-From-The-Motion-Picture/release/305210 ''Booty Call'' (soundtrack)] at [[Discogs]]

{{Jeff Pollack}}

[[Category:1997 films]]
[[Category:1997 romantic comedy films]]
[[Category:1990s sex comedy films]]
[[Category:African-American films]]
[[Category:African-American romantic comedy films]]
[[Category:American sex comedy films]]
[[Category:Columbia Pictures films]]
[[Category:1990s English-language films]]
[[Category:Films shot in Toronto]]
[[Category:Films scored by Robert Folk]]
[[Category:Films directed by Jeff Pollack]]
[[Category:1990s American films]]
[[Category:English-language sex comedy films]]
[[Category:English-language romantic comedy films]]