Every Spike Lee Movie Ranked Worst To Best

7. Mo' Better Blues (1990)

Do The Right Thing
Universal Pictures

Mo' Better Blues ranks this highly for its emotional power alone, most of which is brought to the screen by Denzel Washington's astonishing performance as struggling jazz musician Bleek Gilliam.

Washington's charisma and charm anchor the film in way a lesser actor could never have achieved, pulling from his performance a striking character study of a man guided by his ambition, and trapped by a series of career-damaging decisions.

A striking ode to jazz, friendship and hope, Mo' Better Blues comes complete with a performance for the ages, a series of timeless musical numbers, and Lee's most wholesome conclusion, and it's certainly one of his best and more underappreciated projects to date - unfairly overshadowed by the megahit Do the Right Thing, which came out the year before.

Contributor

Aidan Whatman hasn't written a bio just yet, but if they had... it would appear here.