Am I Black Enough For You (12A)

Reviewed,Robert Hanks
Friday 03 July 2009 00:00 BST
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If you've heard of Billy Paul at all, it's almost certainly because of his one hit back in the early Seventies, "Me and Mrs. Jones": his next single, from which this documentary takes its title, was a flop and his career tumbled.

Was the problem, as the film suggests, that the song was too political, too black for his crossover audience? Did Kenny Gamble, songwriter and boss of Philadelphia International Records, foist an agenda on Paul and kill his career? Olsson, a Swedish enthusiast, doesn't manage to resolve the questions or even convince me that they're interesting enough to sustain a whole film; but Paul, now well into his seventies, can certainly sing, and he and Blanche, his wife of more than 40 years, are a funny, charismatic double-act.

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