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'Slow Jam King'
Ed Park
Tuesday, May 30th 2006
Enthusiastically scored to the titular quiet storms, ersatz c&w, and hip-hop textures, the anti-rockist Slow Jam King is more fun to listen to than watch—though this still leaves the problem of dialogue. High school salutatorian turned college dropout JoJo (Ron Domingo) is a self-proclaimed "Philippine warrior" and pimp manqué whose dad was a soul singer in the old country. JoJo's blinged-out alter ego, all ethnic pride and old-school misogyny, feels tired by the two-minute mark, and one has the sensation of watching an imprudently expanded SNL skit minus the actual skit. His confusingly motivated carjacking-cum–road trip south, involving ex-musician family man Devaun (D.K. Bowser) and stubbly perfume hawker Vance (Whitney Melton), allows a little oxygen into the proceedings. Running parallel to the threesome's sojourn through county fairs and medieval-times strip joints are TV snippets about a scorned bride, the mysterious crooner who ditched her, and her new fiancé, a black country star. Alas, Mallorca's take on celebrity culture is stolidly generic, and viewers may come to agree with long-suffering Devaun: "There's no end to this trip."
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