The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 163

WEEKEND Masala: Romance in an ethnic broth Film makes complex observations on the nature of racial conflict of romance in an ethnic broth is fasci- Cast: Denzel Washington, Sarita ChoudBy BILL COSFORD the title, Hindu for a compound of S. Dutton, Joe Seneca. will, but it's not preachy, and its story MISSISSIPPI MASALA (R) ping that is to come. Producers: Michael Nozik, Mira Nair. Herald Movie Critic MOVIE REVIEW nating when it's working right.

Even hury, Roshan Seth, Sharmila Tagore, Charles spices, suggests the bubbling and pop- Director: Mira Nair. The lovers are Demetrius (Denzel Screenwriter: Sooni Taraporevala. Mississippi Masala is full of good 0005 Washington), a small-town Mississippi Cinematographer: Ed Lachman. striver who runs a carpet-cleaning ser- Music: L. Subramaniam.

vice out of his van, and Mina (Sarita A Samuel Goldwyn release. Running time: Choudhury), the daughter of a family 118 minutes. Vulgar language, violence, adult of Indian expatriates who have never themes. seen their homeland. Mina and her all the Asians out in a spasm of racism black man every bit as much "disposing as nationalism.

placed," insofar as he defines himself LOVE STORY: parents were part of the large and secondary highways in the deep South. Uganda, prosperous at least Asian until Idi community Amin threw in a And young so the Indian story of a woman romance and a between young OPENINGS Mina's family wound up fleeing for as an African American has a genuharassed by Ugandan ine resonance. Denzel their lives, troops and after a period of exile life in The film has a daffy quality, too Washington England, found themselves in Green- the father's crusade is as nutty as it is and Sarita wood, living in the rundown and the bumping of the care- Choudhury are motel where the mother runs a liquor poignant, Indian culture with lovers in 'HEAR MY store. As for father, he spends handwritten much of the fully more comfortable, determinedly Mississippi SONG' circumscribed his time drafting long, American black culture produces some Masala. pleas to the Ugandan government, hilarious frictions.

Get this. Ned petitioning for the return of his posses- the players are unknowns here. What's Mira Nair, whose Salaam Beatty as a celesions and, more important, his citizen- Some predictably tragic ones, too. interesting is how Choudhury holds about homeless children in Bombay, brated Irish tenor ship. Mina and Demetrius do not have an her own in scenes with Washington, was an Oscar nominee in 1988.

The in a casting coup easy time of it, and by the end the film who is a high-wattage Hollywood star same sensitivity, and the same feel for for this small film. A real setting has made some fairly complex obser- and seems quite out of place in most of color and cultural vitality in the most Now get this. He'll This offbeat Diaspora is real; there's vations on the nature of racial conflict. the film. Choudhury is just beautiful unlikely places, informs this film, make you want to a whole subculture of Indian expatri- enough, and just composed enough, to though it is quieter, more intimate and sing, too.

ates running motels, some of them the Holding her own bring it off. frankly less ambitious. It's affecting hot-pillow joints of rural lore, along It's a well-acted film, though most of Mississippi Masala was directed by nonetheless. 'THE GREAT MOUSE Wayne's World (far out!) is funny in places Disney DETECTIVE' is on an animation roll who has, until now, been Wayne's sidekick rather these days, what SNL stars do best work MOVIE REVIEW than a fully realized character. Carvey lets you know with Beauty and what Garth is thinking through a shift of his eyes, a the Beast and when they escape plot WAYNE'S WORLD (PG-13) repressed smile, a subtle double-take.

is the Carvey (it gets is, now next? this. Sherlock What Cast: Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Rob Lowe, Tia Carrere, laughs, he Holmes, the car- but seems to know Myers star Lara Flynn Boyle, Donna Dixon, Colleen after all, WAYNE'S World) and doesn't try to By RENE RODRIGUEZ Brian Doyle-Murray, Meat Loaf, Ed O'Neill, Robert Patrick. upstage him. toon? Herald Staff Writer Camp, Alice Cooper, World is its funniest when it steers Saturday Night Live may no longer be the Michaels. from the plot and into sheer irreverence.

A Director: Penelope Spheeris. Wayne's at that hasn't stopped longtime producer Lorne Cinematographer: Theo Van de Sande. of product placement in movies and a cruise barometer of cultural hipness it was in the '70s, but Screenwriters: Mike Myers, Bonnie Turner, Terry Turner. Laverne Shirley spoof, a jab at the increasing Producer: Lorne away FRIDAY Michaels from bringing two of the show's most pop- Music: J. Peter Robinson.

around town with the boys and their friends as they the real world. The result i is reminiscent of Bill Girlfriend plays it straight ular characters to the big screen. A Paramount release. Running time: 95 minutes. Vulgar Ian- lip-sync Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody are laughMyers) and Garth (Dana Carvey) get to mingle with guage, In Wayne's World, the movie, Wayne (Mike sexual situations.

for World to become a out-loud funny. FERRIIARY Ted's Excellent Adventure, but with a difference: he decides it's time Wayne's But to see these bits, you must also watch Rob into outlandish situ- real show. as the slimy producer, and 14 Where Bill and Ted were thrust and of the movie charts the progress of the Lowe, painfully unfunny ations (time travel or going to hell), Wayne The rest Tia Carrere, who plays Wayne's latest amorous tarGarth create their own bizarre atmosphere. show's big-time debut and follows Wayne get and plays it straight. Big mistake here.

and Garth For the uninitiated, Wayne and Garth are two as they hang out at Stan Mikita's Shop, score Director Penelope Spheeris (The Decline of Donut their heavy-metal own public-access fanatics from cable TV Aurora, show. who Broadcast- have talk backstage to the passes audience to a la an Ferris Alice Bueller. Cooper concert and Western Civilization documentaries, in flat, The TV-like Boys THE and Carvey Next Door) shoots everything a ing from Wayne's basement, the pair discuss girls, Myers (who co-wrote the script) for while style. It would have been interesting to see what a music and more babe-licious," girls, trading "Exqueeze lines me?" like, and "She's "If mag- she and have been they've got playing their these routines characters down pat. a Myers, now, one more creative director (like Tim Burton) would have MIAMI ically around, is usually done with the material.

was a president, she'd be Babe-raham Lincoln." You of the most uninhibited comedians Will like Wayne's World? If you liked the get Hanging the idea. out good cession for of a laugh "no-jobs" whether or acting he's talking goofily about romantic. his suc- you SNL skits, should you you'll steer like clear. the If movie. you've If you never hated side visited them, HERALD Wayne's World before, check your serious at When an opportunistic television executive (Rob Carvey gets laughs the door and approach with caution.

of the duo's program, Carvey has the tougher role of developing Garth, 003 Lowe) catches a few minutes.