One Spoon of Chocolate, 2025.

Written and Directed by RZA.
Starring Shameik Moore, Blair Underwood, RJ Cyler, Paris Jackson, Emyri Crutchfield, Michael Harney, Harry Goodwins, Johnell Young, Rockmond Dunbar, Jason Isbell, Isaiah Hill, James Thomas, Lee Knight, Alex Borton, Brandon Bonilla, Tye Alexander, and Cabot Basden.

SYNOPSIS:

An ex-military convict seeks a fresh start in a small town, but his past catches up as he finds love amid danger and chaos.

Recently released from a correctional facility while leaving it questionable whether our former Army protagonist should have been locked up in the first place, musician-turned-writer/director RZA’s One Spoon of Chocolate (Quentin Tarantino also has a producer credit, lending more reason to believe that no 10th film will ever taint his reputation more than his personal actions and the movies he is stamping his name on) sends Shameik Moore’s Randy ” Unique” Joneson to retry rebuilding his life alongside his cousin Ramsee (RJ Cyler) who, for some reason, lives in a small, racist Ohio town literally called Karensville.

One would presume that a ridiculous fictional setting like that would instantly lay the groundwork for something fittingly ludicrous in tone, allowing RZA to fully lean into his martial arts inspiration/obsession. There are also a couple of moments when he succeeds; an early scuffle on a basketball court is stylishly choreographed, with sleek, squeaky sound design adding a layer of immersion. The problem is that the majority of the film is ludicrous in the context of “how did anyone think this was a good idea,” crossing the line from Blaxploitation to outright exploitation and stupidity. And that’s when the movie isn’t as dull as dirt.

For some confounding reason, this is an unforgivably serious-minded film for a narrative that clues viewers in during the opening that there might be something more to the report that this town is a leader in organ transplants. It is also bizarrely, uncomfortably fixated on bombarding with numerous sequences of disturbingly violent, traumatizing crimes against the Black community living in the town (why they are even living in it is an aspect that doesn’t make a single ounce of sense here), whether it be from the cartoonishly racist gang led by Harry Goodwins’ Jimmy or the equally absurdly portrayed dirty police department in bed with them on criminal activities.

Unique and Ramsee merely understandably want the freedom to use the rec center (and any other part of the town) as they reasonably please with equality. Since this is not a subtle movie whatsoever – with Unique, at one point, perturbed that there is only one spoon of chocolate left only to be told by someone that it only takes a small amount of chocolate to make change (while placing said spoon of chocolate into a glass of milk, to make sure the metaphor clicks for even the dumbest people in the audience) – every member of this gang can’t help themselves from hurling out every racial epithet under the sun while confronting these Black characters, trying to get under their skin. Yes, I’m sure people are this racist. Here, the screenwriting often comes across as lazy and forced, trying to elicit a shock from the audience that never comes.

As established, nearly everyone in this town is racist, except for when the plot dictates otherwise. At home, Ramsee invites over his girlfriend (Emyri Crutchfield), who is coincidentally close friends with a white woman played by Paris Jackson (yes, the daughter of Michael Jackson; that might be the only interesting thing about this movie). Whenever Unique is not being hunted by racists, they are generally seen getting closer. As for Ramsee and his love interest, they are seen intimately as the police charge into the home, leaving viewers fearing that the film might go for the worst possible kind of exploitation.

At a certain point in this nearly two-hour film, which doesn’t have enough intriguing material for 90 minutes, the action stops dead for a series of conversations involving secondary characters as they try to prepare for the fight about to be brought to them. Rest assured, the more the story tries to flesh out Karensville, its people, and how it operates, the less sense it somehow begins to make. During the climax, in which Unique stages a vengeful assault on Jimmy and his racist compound, there appear to be normal non racist civilians and workers looking on outside, having ditched church, listening to the chaos being broadcast from a loudspeaker. It comes across as RZA thinking naming the town Karensville was a stroke of comedic genius, without realizing that it needs to be more than a joke if the narrative is ultimately going to be tone-deaf dramatic. Everything is confused here.

It doesn’t even matter that RZA stages that final 30 minutes with some brutal and stylish flair. By that point, the movie is a sleeping pill rather than sweet bloody fun. One Spoon of Chocolate is dreadful, cementing that RZA, while a worthwhile fight choreographer, hasn’t evolved much as a director.

Flickering Myth Rating– Film: ★ / Movie: ★ ★

Robert Kojder