Blues Brothers 2000



Blues Brothers 2000 is a 1998 American musical comedy film that is a sequel to the 1980 film The Blues Brothers, written and produced by John Landis and Dan Aykroyd. Directed by Landis, the film stars Aykroyd and John Goodman, with cameo appearances by various musicians.

Plot
Eighteen years after the original "mission from God", Elwood Blues (Dan Aykroyd) is getting out of prison and discovering that much has changed in the time he's been away. His brother, "Joliet" Jake Blues (John Belushi) and their surrogate father-figure Curtis (Cab Calloway) have died, his band is no longer together and the orphanage where he grew up has been demolished. Elwood soon realizes that he must embark on a whole new mission - to reassemble the old band, this time with the help of a soulful bartender, Mack McTeer (John Goodman), compete at Queen Moussette's (Erykah Badu) Battle of the Bands and set a wayward orphan named Buster (J. Evan Bonifant) on the path to redemption. In the midst of the mayhem, he's got to prove to the Illinois State Police that there's magic in the music.

Special appearances and musical performances including B.B. King, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Jonny Lang, Blues Traveler, and Eric Clapton.

The Blues Brothers Band

 * Dan Aykroyd as Elwood J. Blues – harmonica and vocals
 * John Goodman as "Mighty" Mack McTeer – lead vocals
 * Joe Morton as Commander Cabel Chamberlain/Cab Blues – vocals
 * J. Evan Bonifant as Buster Blues – vocals and harmonica (harmonica recorded by John Popper)
 * Steve Cropper as Steve "the Colonel" Cropper – rhythm guitar and vocals
 * Donald "Duck" Dunn as Donald "Duck" Dunn – bass guitar
 * Murphy Dunne as Murphy "Murph" Dunne – keyboards
 * Willie Hall as Willie "Too Big" Hall – drums and percussion
 * Tom Malone as Tom "Bones" Malone – trombone, tenor saxophone and vocals
 * Lou Marini as "Blue Lou" Marini – alto saxophone and tenor saxophone and vocals
 * Matt Murphy as Matt "Guitar" Murphy – lead guitar
 * Alan Rubin as Alan "Mr. Fabulous" Rubin – trumpet, percussion and vocals

Musical guests

 * Erykah Badu as Queen Mousette
 * Blues Traveler as themselves
 * Lonnie Brooks as himself
 * Eddie Floyd as Ed
 * Aretha Franklin as Mrs. Murphy
 * James Brown as Reverend Cleophus James
 * Jonny Lang as janitor
 * Sam Moore as Reverend Morris
 * Wilson Pickett as Mr. Pickett
 * Junior Wells as himself

The Louisiana Gator Boys
The Louisiana Gator Boys is a blues supergroup created for the film. They face The Blues Brothers in a battle of the bands. The band is composed of:
 * Jeff "Skunk" Baxter – guitar
 * Gary U.S. Bonds – vocals
 * Eric Clapton – vocals and guitar
 * Clarence Clemons – vocals, tenor saxophone and tambourine
 * Jack DeJohnette – drums
 * Bo Diddley – vocals and guitar
 * Jon Faddis – trumpet
 * Isaac Hayes – vocals
 * Dr. John – vocals and piano
 * B. B. King as Malvern Gasperone – vocals and guitar
 * Tommy "Pipes" McDonnell – vocals
 * Charlie Musselwhite – vocals and harmonica
 * Billy Preston – vocals and synthesizer
 * Lou Rawls – vocals
 * Joshua Redman – tenor saxophone
 * Paul Shaffer as Marco/Himself – keyboards
 * Koko Taylor – vocals
 * Travis Tritt – vocals and guitar
 * Jimmie Vaughan – vocals and guitar
 * Grover Washington, Jr. – baritone saxophone
 * Willie Weeks – bass guitar
 * Steve Winwood – vocals and organ

Nia Peeples, Kathleen Freeman, Frank Oz, Steve Lawrence, Darrell Hammond, John Lyons, and Jeff Morris appear in cameos. The film is dedicated to John Belushi, Cab Calloway, and John Candy, cast members from the original film who had died prior to the sequel's production.

Production
Blues Brothers 2000 made it into the Guinness Book of Records for the biggest car pile-up, a record previously held by the original film. Approximately 60 cars were used in the scene after Elwood says to the band, "Don't look back." Inevitably, everyone looks back and sees the massive pile-up. Portions of this scene were filmed in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

Casting
The film was originally intended to include Brother Zee Blues (Jim Belushi, brother of John Belushi). But due to an already existing television deal (Belushi had been cast in the ABC drama Total Security), Belushi was unable to appear and the script was altered to include Cab Blues (Joe Morton). This character was named Cabel as an homage to Cab Calloway, who died four years prior to the film's release. (His character Curtis was revealed to have died in the film along with Jake.)

The band's original keyboardist, Paul Shaffer, had been committed to Gilda Radner's one-woman show on Broadway and therefore unable to appear in the first film. He was replaced by actor-musician Murphy Dunne. Shaffer does appear in Blues Brothers 2000, taking a week off from Late Show with David Letterman to film his role as Queen Moussette's aide, M.C. of the battle of the bands (Warren Zevon took his place that week on Letterman's show). Shaffer shaved his head for the role, a change in appearance he chose to keep permanently.

During the Funky Nassau number, Shaffer in his character as "Marco" asks to cut in on keyboards, which Murph allows. This marks the first on-screen time that the Blues Brothers Band plays with the original keyboardist.

Several cast members from the first film reprised their characters, including Frank Oz, Jeff Morris, Steve Lawrence, Kathleen Freeman, Aretha Franklin, and James Brown.

Release
Blues Brothers 2000 was screened out of competition at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival.

Box office
The film grossed a little over $14 million in box office sales in North America.

Critical reception
The film received mixed reviews, averaging a 47% positive rating at Rotten Tomatoes based on 45 reviews, and a D score from Entertainment Weekly. Roger Ebert gave the film 2 stars, saying, "The film is lame comedy surrounded by high-energy blues (and some pop, rock and country music)."

Video game
A Blues Brothers 2000 video game was released for the Nintendo 64 on November 17, 2000, two years after the film's release. The plot of the game involves Elwood as the main character going through different chapters and levels while trying to save the kidnapped members of the band one by one. Like the film on which it based and the video game based on the first film, it was poorly received.