This morning as I got in my car after completing another treadmill run, an Erykah Badu song came on my radio.  I am a general fan of her work, but every time I hear her, unfortunately I think of Blues Brothers 2000 (1998).  I wish I did not have to add that last adjective.  The Blues Brothers (1980) is one of the more formative films of my life.  Whenever I missed Chicago, I would watch it, and it truly is a cinematic love letter to the city.  It also helps that the title pair are Catholics, if not the most devout.  There is also a lot of specifically Catholic, and broadly Christian imagery throughout the story.  Sadly, John Belushi, who played “Joliet” Jake Blues, died in 1982.  It is not readily apparent why they waited eighteen years to make a sequel, though maybe some reason will arise as I describe it.  The unfortunate part of all this is that this follow up is a terrible copy at best, and arguably one of the worst movies ever made.  At least some of the music is good?

There is no music for Elwood J. Blues (Dan Aykroyd) at the beginning of Blue Brothers 2000 as he is being released from prison nearly two decades since the last film.  He stands outside the fence waiting for a ride that will never come.  The person he is expecting is Jake, but it takes the warden (Frank Oz) coming out to inform him that Elwood’s brother has passed away.  Eventually, Matara (Shann Johnson), arrives to give Elwood a lift to Chicago.  She is a dancer at a club owned by Willie “Too Big” Hall (Willie Hall), the drummer in the eponymous band.  Along with the taxi service, she tells Elwood that he has a job waiting for him at Willie’s place.  Yet, before they get there, he is distracted by a lot full of decommissioned police cars run by Malvern Gasperon (B. B. King).  Because this has to be like its predecessor, Elwood must have a vintage patrol vehicle, but he does not possess the $500 to obtain it.  Hence, it is on to Our Lady of Perpetual Help hospital, which is run by Mother Mary Stigmata (Kathleen Freeman).  She is pleased by the visit, but her charity is once again in need of money.  If you are familiar with the predecessor, I hope you are sensing the pattern.  There are more of the same kinds jokes until Buster “Scribbles” Blues (J. Evan Bonifant) is brought in for Elwood to mentor.  Elwood wants nothing to do with the ten-year-old, but the kid follows the grown-up anyway as he travels to the Illinois State Trooper building.  Elwood has come here because Commander Cabel Chamberlain (Joe Morton) is a trooper, though the information proffered by Mother Stigmata does not immediately suggest this is so.  Commander Chamberlain is the son of Curtis (Cab Calloway, not pictured), the man who took care of Elwood and Jake when Our Lady of Perpetual Help had been an orphanage.  Against Mother Mary’s advice, Elwood tells the prideful Commander Chamberlain about his real father, and the revelation is not taken kindly.  The encounter is not without utility, though, as Buster pickpockets Commander Chamberlain, and Elwood obtains the cash he needs for the car.  Now with wheels, Elwood settles into a gig at Willie’s, but is disturbed when his old friend gives up protection money to the Russian mob.  With some help from Mack “Mighty Mack” McTeer (John Goodman), the bartender, they tie up the goons that come to collect, leaving a note requesting that Willie be left alone.  Unsurprisingly, the Russians return with more men, guns, and gasoline.  In the resulting chaos, Buster, Elwood, Mighty Mack, and Willie escape, and it is at this point that Elwood finally chooses to put the eponymous band back together.  Why?  I have no idea, but again, it is just like the last film.  To be fair, there are some minor differences.  Keyboardist Murphy “Murph” Dunne (Murphy Dunne) does not have the bulk of the group playing in a hotel lounge; guitarist Matt “Guitar” Murphy (Matt Murphy) owns a car dealership with his wife, Mrs. Murphy (Aretha Franklin), and yes, saxophone player Lou “Blue Lou” Marini (Lou Marini) is employed there as a salesman; finally, instead of being a maître d’ at a fancy restaurant, trumpet player Alan “Mr. Fabulous” Rubin (Alan Rubin), is a funeral director.  This last one is given little choice but to rejoin the Blue Brothers when Buster, Elwood, and Mack interrupt a Russian funeral, and the aggrieved start shooting.  Otherwise, they are all there, and they are being chased by the authorities, Russians, and racists flying the American flag because I guess we could not have Nazis this time.  The band gets a set of gigs from booking agent Maury Sline (Steve Lawrence), the last of which is to be an audition for a battle of the bands at Queen Moussette’s in Louisiana.  Otherwise, the journey there has the same beats, including a show where they have to play country music instead of their usual fare.  There are supernatural occurrences, too, such as when Commander Chamberlain finally catches up to the guys at a revival being hosted by Reverend Cleophus James (James Brown).  During the praise and worship, Commander Chamberlain has a revelation that he is supposed to be a part of the band, being transported to Heaven and coming back down as Cab Blues and dressed like Buster, Elwood, and Mack.  Thus, it is on to Queen Moussette’s, who requests that they play Caribbean music.  Elwood refuses, and he, Cab and Mack are turned into zombies because. . . ?  In any case, it is enough to please the proprietor, though their competition is a blues super band full of too many names to enumerate.  Before judgement can be rendered, all the baddies burst in, but Queen Moussette turns them into rats.  The people she does not magic are the police, forcing Buster and Elwood to make a run for it because technically they are involved in kidnapping.  The end.

If you recognized a plot, and/or a resolution of it, by the end of Blue Brothers 2000, then you have a keener eye than I.  As much of a fan as I am of the previous film, I was disappointed by the sequel that much more.  Of course, there is the old cliché about being let down by the things in which you place expectations.  The one person with whom this seeming rule does not apply is God.  He will always be there for you and give you what you need, if you are ready to accept Him.  With all this said, it is still bizarre that Badu ended up in this production.  I suppose a paycheck is still a paycheck, as they say, but if you know anything about her career, you will be aware that she is somebody with integrity.  Then again, the argument could be made that the point of the movie is to just to give musicians a platform for their craft.  And sometimes, we do not know what that craft is meant to be.  I am referring to Commander Chamberlain, and talking about him is about the best I can do in terms of a Christian analysis.  Nonetheless, his revelation is interesting.  Though his transportation into the clouds with God giving him a new purpose is not unheard of in Catholic history, chances are that our experience will be a little less physically demonstrative.  What it takes to have that kind of experience, no matter its form, is to have a heart open to God’s promptings.  This is true listening, and it is not easy.  Indeed, you can ask for God’s direction numerous times and tell Him how ready you are, and still feel like you are being given nothing.  In reality, it is not “nothing.”  God always replies, and “no” is a response.  That is okay, too.  God wants nothing but the best of you, and while you might feel content being an Illinois State Trooper one day, He could ask you to join a blues band the next.  Trusting in Him and wanting only what He wants is sort of at play here, though this Catholic would have liked to have seen this transformation be more intentional, spiritually speaking.  Still, it is something.

That transformation is about the only “something” in the so-called story of Blue Brothers 2000.  It tries way too hard to be like its predecessor instead of doing anything original.  Then again, how innovative can a sequel be?  If you want anything from the film, watch it for the music.