They Cloned Tyrone film review — conspiracy comedy makes paranoia great again

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Remember when conspiracy theories used to be fun? Making paranoia great again is They Cloned Tyrone, a kooky comic sci-fi from debut director Juel Taylor that puts a grab-bag of genres through a blender. First, a modern street drama takes on vintage Blaxploitation trappings; then we swerve into a tale of American secrets, dusted with traces of that classic of the form, They Live. 

The setting is the Glen, a fictional scuffed proxy for any number of cities. Here John Boyega’s laconic Fontaine scratches a living dealing drugs, the mood hard-bitten till an encounter with Slick Charles (Jamie Foxx), a retro pimp with a pompadour whose very presence blurs our timeframe. So too Yo-Yo (Teyonah Parris), a tack-sharp sex worker again stepped out of the 1970s, but with contemporary financial interests (blockchain).

What? When? Either way, the future will have to proceed without Fontaine, shot dead by rivals. Not so fast. The next day, he simply wakes up and begins again. To the rabbit holes!

The energy is nothing if not vital. Foxx has a blast; Boyega is sturdy. Best of all is Parris, once hyper-competent secretary Dawn Chambers in Mad Men, here bouncing off her co-stars and making her own space in the film. 

If the best of the movie awaits in the first hour, it still makes a fine calling card for Taylor. The look on-screen is sleek, the background scroll of skits and riffs engaging. But the ace in the pack might be the hidden logic behind the time loops and TV ads: a sly social satire. “Are you starting to join the dots?” Parris demands. Good question.

★★★★☆

On Netflix from July 21