Blues Brothers 2000

Blues Brothers 2000
Promotional one-sheet poster.
Directed by	John Landis
Produced by	Dan Aykroyd Leslie Belzberg John Landis
Written by	Dan Aykroyd John Landis
Starring	Dan Aykroyd John Goodman Joe Morton James Brown Aretha Franklin B. B. King J. Evan Bonifant
Music by	Paul Shaffer
Cinematography	David Herrington
Edited by	Dale Beldin
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release dates	February 6, 1998
Running time	123 minutes[1]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$28 million
Box office	$14 million

Blues Brothers 2000 is a 1998 American musical comedy film that is a sequel to 1980's The Blues Brothers, written and produced by John Landis and Dan Aykroyd. Directed by Landis, the film stars Aykroyd and John Goodman, with cameos by many musicians.

Plot

Eighteen years after the original "mission from God", Elwood Blues (Dan Aykroyd) is getting out of prison and discovering that much has changed in the time he's been away. His partner, "Joliet" Jake Blues (John Belushi) and their surrogate father-figure Curtis (Cab Calloway) are both gone, his band is no longer together and the orphanage where he grew up has been demolished. Elwood soon realizes that he must embark on a whole new mission - to reassemble the old band, this time with the help of a soulful bartender, Mack McTeer (John Goodman), compete at Queen Moussette's (Erykah Badu) Battle of the Bands and set a wayward orphan named Buster (J. Evan Bonifant) on the path to redemption. In the midst of the mayhem, he's got to prove to the police that there's magic in the music...and a mysterious method behind the Blues Brothers' madness. Special appearances and musical performances by B.B. King, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Jonny Lang, Blues Traveler, Eric Clapton and many more.

Cast and characters

Bands and musical guests

The Blues Brothers Band Dan Aykroyd as Elwood J. Blues – harmonica and vocals John Goodman as "Mighty" Mack McTeer – lead vocals Joe Morton as Commander Cabel Chamberlain/Cab Blues – vocals J. Evan Bonifant as Buster Blues – vocals and harmonica (harmonica recorded by John Popper) Steve Cropper as Steve "the Colonel" Cropper – rhythm guitar and vocals Donald "Duck" Dunn as Donald "Duck" Dunn – bass guitar Murphy Dunne as Murphy "Murph" Dunne – keyboards Willie Hall as Willie "Too Big" Hall – drums and percussion Tom Malone as Tom "Bones" Malone – trombone, tenor saxophone and vocals Lou Marini as "Blue Lou" Marini – alto saxophone and tenor saxophone and vocals Matt Murphy as Matt "Guitar" Murphy – lead guitar Alan Rubin as Alan "Mr. Fabulous" Rubin – trumpet, percussion and vocals Musical guests Erykah Badu as Queen Mousette Blues Traveler as themselves Lonnie Brooks as himself Eddie Floyd as Ed Aretha Franklin as Mrs. Murphy Jonny Lang as janitor Sam Moore as Reverend Morris Wilson Pickett as Mr. Pickett Junior Wells as himself

The Louisiana Gator Boys The Louisiana Gator Boys is a blues supergroup created for the film. They face The Blues Brothers in a battle of the bands. The band is composed of: Jeff "Skunk" Baxter – guitar Gary U.S. Bonds – vocals Eric Clapton – vocals and guitar Clarence Clemons – vocals, tenor saxophone and tambourine Jack DeJohnette – drums Bo Diddley – vocals and guitar Jon Faddis – trumpet Isaac Hayes – vocals Dr. John – vocals and piano B. B. King as Malvern Gasperone – Vocals and guitar Tommy "Pipes" McDonnell – vocals Charlie Musselwhite – vocals and harmonica Billy Preston – vocals and synthesizer Lou Rawls – vocals Joshua Redman – tenor saxophone Paul Shaffer as Marco/Himself – keyboards Koko Taylor – vocals Travis Tritt – vocals and guitar Jimmie Vaughan – vocals and guitar Grover Washington, Jr. – baritone saxophone Willie Weeks – bass guitar Steve Winwood – vocals and organ

Nia Peeples, Kathleen Freeman, Frank Oz, Steve Lawrence, Darrell Hammond, John Lyons, and Jeff Morris appear in cameos. The film is dedicated to John Belushi, Cab Calloway, and John Candy, cast members from the original film who had died prior to the sequel's production.

Production

Blues Brothers 2000 made it into the Guinness Book of Records for the biggest car pile-up, a record previously held by the original film. Approximately 60 cars were used in the scene after Elwood says to the band, "Don't look back." Inevitably, everyone looks back and sees the massive pile-up. Portions of this scene were filmed in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

Casting

The film was originally intended to include Brother Zee Blues (Jim Belushi, brother of John Belushi). But due to an already existing television deal (Belushi had been cast in the ABC drama Total Security), Belushi was unable to appear and the script was altered to include Cab Blues (Joe Morton). This character was named Cabel as an homage to Cab Calloway, who died four years prior to the film's release. (His character Curtis was revealed to have died in the film along with Jake.)

The band's original keyboardist, Paul Shaffer, had been committed to Gilda Radner's one-woman show on Broadway and therefore unable to appear in the first film. He was replaced by actor-musician Murphy Dunne. Shaffer does appear in Blues Brothers 2000, taking a week off from Late Show with David Letterman to film his role as Queen Moussette's aide, M.C. of the battle of the bands (Warren Zevon took his place that week on Letterman's show). Shaffer shaved his head for the role, a change in appearance he chose to keep permanently.

During the Funky Nassau number, Shaffer in his character as "Marco" asks to cut in on keyboards, which Murph allows. This marks the first on-screen time that the Blues Brothers Band plays with the original keyboardist.

Several cast members from the first film reprised their characters, including Frank Oz, Jeff Morris, Steve Lawrence, Kathleen Freeman, Aretha Franklin, and James Brown.

Release

Blues Brothers 2000 was screened out of competition at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival.^[2]

Box office

The film grossed a little over $14 million in box office sales in North America.^[3]

Critical reception

The film received mixed reviews, averaging a 45% positive rating at Rotten Tomatoes based on 44 reviews,^[4] and a D score from Entertainment Weekly.^[5] Roger Ebert gave the film 2 stars, saying, "The film is lame comedy surrounded by high-energy blues (and some pop, rock and country music)."^[6]

Video game

A Blues Brothers 2000 video game was released for the Nintendo 64 on November 17, 2000, almost two years after the film's release. The plot of the game involves Elwood as the main character going through different chapters and levels while trying to save the kidnapped members of the band one by one. Like the film on which it based and the video game based on the first film, it was poorly received.

Soundtrack

References

1. "BLUES BROTHERS 2000 (PG)". British Board of Film Classification. March 12, 1998. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
2. "Festival de Cannes: Blues Brothers 2000". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-10-04.
3. "Box Office Mojo". Blues Brothers 2000. Retrieved December 16, 2006.
4. Rotten Tomatoes page: "Blues Brothers 2000."
5. EW.com article: "Blues Brothers 2000 Reviews."
6. RogerEbert.com article: "Blues Brothers 2000."

External links

• Blues Brothers 2000 at the Internet Movie Database
• Blues Brothers 2000 at the TCM Movie Database
• Blues Brothers 2000 at Box Office Mojo
• Blues Brothers 2000 at Rotten Tomatoes