They Cloned Tyrone (2023) | REVIEW

Directed by Juel Taylor — Screenplay by Tony Rettenmaier and Juel Taylor.

Last week, moviegoers flocked to theaters — most of them dressed in pink — and walked down the pink carpet to take part in the movie event of the year known as Barbenheimer — i.e. the simultaneous release of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. We were lucky to have two films that were so excellent released on the same day so that people of all ages could celebrate movie theaters all over the world. However, that same weekend, there was also a third film released that cineastes ought to check out. Released on Netflix just last week, Juel Taylor’s feature directorial debut They Cloned Tyrone is a genuinely funny and stylized sci-fi comedy that I highly recommend to audiences looking for something special from the comfort of their own home. 

Juel Taylor’s They Cloned Tyrone follows a drug dealer from the neighborhood known as ‘Glen,’ which has secrets lurking beneath it. This drug dealer, named Fontaine (played by John Boyega), is one day gunned down and killed by another drug dealer, and yet he wakes up the next morning like nothing ever happened. This startles Slick (played by Jamie Foxx), a pimp, who witnessed Fontaine’s death. Together, Slick, Fontaine, and Yo-Yo (played by Teyonah Parris), a sex worker who loves Nancy Drew, decide to investigate what exactly is going on. Their investigation eventually leads them to an underground facility in which they find mysterious powder and a corpse that is identical to Fontaine. 

There is a lot to like about They Cloned Tyrone. It’s got this really cool style insofar as it’s a seemingly relatively modern setting but Taylor has insisted on a look that is very gritty. A retrofuturistic aesthetic is complimented by really well-designed character-specific costumes from designer Francine Jamison-Tanchuck, but also a very creative and genuinely funny script. It reminded me of films like The Cabin in the Woods, Sorry to Bother You, Get Out, and They Live! but with this blaxploitation spin. It weaves in so many fun references here and there that help to really get you to create a bond with this group of misfit heroes. Jamie Foxx clearly had a blast making this film, and he really is so fun to watch. A wonderfully charismatic Teyonah Parris shines as Yo-Yo, and she made me really excited to see what is coming down the pipeline for her. As for Boyega? Well, he is predictably strong in a multi-faceted role that really highlights how he is an underappreciated young star. 

It doesn’t quite stick the landing, though. I think it’s one of those occasions in which the film feels both a little bit too long and doesn’t have enough time to fully plant its ideas, of which there are plenty. That first hour was really excellent, to me, with so much intrigue and clever ideas and character work, but then I think it kind of runs out of steam the moment Kiefer Sutherland pops up and delivers an expositional speech. Not only is it not the most fascinating expositional speech in the film, but I think it comes too early on in the film (and is perhaps unnecessary given the later speech), which might’ve benefitted from being mysterious a little bit longer.

There is a part of me that thinks this would be one of the best films of the year if it were better-paced. The pacing really is its biggest problem. Though it oozes style and coolness, everything until the last half hour is too slowly paced for a reveal that isn’t really all that surprising, and then the final half hour is too fast-paced to really have its core ideas settle in. Thus, it’ll have to settle for being one of the best Netflix films thus far this year, and, hey, that’s pretty good too. Juel Taylor’s They Cloned Tyrone is a definite recommendation.

7.9 out of 10

– Review Written by Jeffrey Rex Bertelsen.