They Cloned Tyrone
They Cloned Tyrone is a 2023 American science fiction comedy mystery film directed by Juel Taylor, in his feature film directorial debut, from a screenplay he wrote with Tony Rettenmaier. It stars John Boyega, Teyonah Parris, and Jamie Foxx (who also serves as a producer) as an unlikely trio uncovering a government cloning conspiracy. David Alan Grier and Kiefer Sutherland also appear in supporting roles.

They Cloned Tyrone premiered at the American Black Film Festival on June 14, 2023, and began a limited theatrical release on July 14, 2023, before streaming on July 21, 2023, by Netflix. The film received positive reviews from critics, with particular praise aimed at the humor and lead cast performances.

Plot

Fontaine is a drug dealer in a suburban neighborhood called the Glen with odds against him and a schedule he keeps daily. His mother stays in her room all day and rarely speaks to Fontaine, and he still mourns the death of his younger brother. Slick Charles, one of Fontaine's customers, initiates a fight with one of his many sex workers, Yo-Yo. Fontaine goes to confront Slick Charles who owes Fontaine money and encounters Yo-Yo on the way. Fontaine is able to get some of the money from Slick but is then fatally shot by an opposing drug dealer named Isaac as he leaves.

The next morning, Slick is shocked when Fontaine shows up for the money once again, somehow alive and without any recollections of the previous night's events. The two find Yo-Yo to confirm Slick's claims of his death, which confuses Fontaine. He remembers a man, bleeding from a gunshot, was kidnapped by a black SUV, which is now parked outside of a trap house. Fontaine goes inside the house to investigate with Slick and Yo-Yo. 

They discover an elevator leading to an underground lab. Inside, a white scientist with an afro tells them that the operation has gone widespread. Slick snorts a mysterious white substance he thinks is cocaine, but ends up laughing and accidentally killing the scientist after Yo-Yo causes a small explosion. Before they leave, the trio discovers a corpse lying on a table, identical to Fontaine.

The next morning, Fontaine breaks into the house again, only to find that the entrance to the lab has disappeared. At a fried chicken restaurant, the diners are giddy with laughter, which makes Slick realize that the fried chicken contains the same substance that he consumed previously. Yo-Yo seduces the restaurant manager, who looks similar to the scientist Slick killed. She discovers that the entirety of the Glen is being surveilled and recorded. They discover that the substance is also being used in grape drinks and hair products. Through some hidden messages from an alcoholic Fontaine encounters daily, they discover a Black church where the group becomes unsettled by lyrics that the churchgoers sing, as a result of the grape drink's influence. After the service, the group discovers an elevator in the altar.

They discover that the lab facility spans the entire Glen area and witness Black people being subject to disturbing behavioral experiments. They find that the lab has clones of every Glen resident, including Fontaine and Slick Charles. They watch the predominantly white scientists control the clones through songs and visual stimulation. They exit through a strip club after Fontaine sets off an alarm. The DJ brainwashes the clubgoers with a song and then forces them to chase the trio. A white man named Nixon and a Fontaine clone named Chester show up to halt the clubgoers. 

Nixon reveals that scientists conduct experiments on impoverished, predominantly Black populations, including the Glen, to allow the operation to go unnoticed and supposedly achieve peace in America. Nixon uses a trigger word, causing the entire crowd to follow his commands with the exception of Yo-Yo. Nixon tells Fontaine to put a pistol in his mouth, which he does. Yo-Yo pleads for his life, and Nixon uses another trigger word to release them from their hypnotic state. The entire crowd was conscious the entire time, unable to control their actions. Despite the fact that Yo-Yo was a witness who was unaffected, Nixon still threatens to use it on the crowd again if they don't stop their investigation.

The next day, Fontaine falls deeper into a state of despair after discovering that his mother, whom he had never actually seen, was just a voice on a tape recorder. Yo-Yo decides to take matters into her own hands, but has her identity exposed and is kidnapped by Nixon. Fontaine comes up with a plan with Slick and Isaac to rescue Yo-Yo, faking his death to sneak into the lab undetected. Fontaine lets Slick and Isaac in to storm the lab with numerous residents of the Glen. They free the Black people being experimented on, including the clones, while Yo-Yo frees herself and finds Slick.

Fontaine is overpowered by Chester and taken to an older version of Fontaine, revealed to be the original Fontaine. He explains that he is helping scientists to create "peace" by whitewashing Black people into White people, through mind control and generational breeding. The racially-motivated murder of Fontaine's little brother by a police officer prompted him to start making the clones. After the elder Fontaine claims that the country would be better with assimilation than annihilation, Fontaine uses Nixon's trigger word on Chester and has him shoot the original. Meanwhile, Yo-Yo stalls Nixon from killing her before Slick shoots him in the head.

The facility entrance to the church opens up, spilling naked clones out to the public and exposing the country's secret operation. After Yo-Yo announces her retirement from her job, the trio decides to head to Memphis, to further expose and stop the operation.

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, a man named Tyrone is identical to Fontaine and living the same lifestyle as Fontaine. While with his friends, he watches as one of Fontaine's clones appears on TV, all realizing that Fontaine is a clone of Tyrone.

Cast
 John Boyega as Fontaine / Old Fontaine / Chester / Tyrone
 Teyonah Parris as Yo-Yo
 Jamie Foxx as Slick Charles
 Kiefer Sutherland as Nixon
 David Alan Grier as The Preacher
 J. Alphonse Nicholson as Isaac
 Tamberla Perry as Biddy
 Eric Robinson Jr. as Big Moss

Production
Development on the film began in February 2019 when the screenplay was optioned from The Black List of popular but un-produced scripts. It was conceived as a "genre-bending" homage to the Blaxploitation films of 1970s, featuring elements of satire, mystery, horror, science fiction, and absurdist humor.

In February 2019, it was announced that Brian Tyree Henry was in negotiations to star in the film, with Taylor set to direct under the production company MACRO Media. Later that year in October, John Boyega joined the cast, replacing Henry in the lead role, with production expected to begin in early 2020 and Netflix set to distribute. Jamie Foxx and Teyonah Parris joined the cast in September 2020.

Principal photography began in November 2020, in Atlanta, Georgia. Filming took place in Blackhall Studios and wrapped in April 2021. Taylor cited They Live, Groundhog Day, It Follows, and Napoleon Dynamite as influences on the film.

Release
They Cloned Tyrone premiered at the 27th American Black Film Festival (ABFF) on June 14, 2023. It also screened at the 49th Newark Black Film Festival (NBFF) on July 12, 2023. The film began a limited theatrical release on July 14, 2023, before streaming on Netflix a week later (July 21, 2023).

Marketing
On February 3, 2022, Foxx shared an image of the lead cast in-costume on the set of They Cloned Tyrone. CinemaBlend complimented the "stylish and cool" aesthetic of the costuming, writing: "To say their looks were interesting would be an understatement. Foxx’s asymmetrical high-top alone is a statement. Each character’s personality comes out through their style. Jamie Foxx personifies the high-end slick talker with his high-top, purple felt suit, and faux leather jacket. Teyonah Parris comes off as a Blaxploitation star mixed with futurism with her natural hair, faux fur yellow coat, leopard print pants, and thigh-high boots. John Boyega goes full grimy hustler in his gold tooth and striped track pants with a green hoodie and padded jacket".

A teaser trailer for the film was released, on September 24, 2022, during Netflix's global fan event Tudum. It featured a rendition of the Gap Band's 1982 song "You Dropped a Bomb on Me". Deadline wrote that the trailer "vibes a stylized modern yet 1970s feel". Erin Brady of /Film liked the premise and characters introduced in the trailer and remarked: "If this isn't sci-fi throwback pulp, then what is?" Jeremy Fuster of TheWrap compared the film's conspiracy-theorist plot to the infamous Tuskegee Syphilis Study, a government-funded medical study done on Black subjects in Tuskegee, Alabama between 1932 and 1972.

Netflix released a trio of character posters on June 12, 2023, featuring the lead cast in stylized silhouettes. Cameron Bonomolo of Comicbook called them "trippy", while Collider speculated that "[the] shrouding of these protagonists in mystery might be a pointed reminder to audiences of the conspiracy that needs solving in the film". An official trailer was released the following day. Lengthier in runtime, it featured a rendition of the 1984 single by Rockwell Featuring Michael Jackson "Somebody's Watching Me". Yasmeen Hamadeh of Mashable complimented: "With its high-thrills trailer promising hilarious hijinks and '70s galore, They Cloned Tyrone is a must-add to your Netflix watch list".

In their May 2023 issues, Empire and Entertainment Weekly published stories on They Cloned Tyrone, accompanied by a several images from the film.

Reception 
 

In her review of the film for The Hollywood Reporter, Lovia Gyarkye called They Cloned Tyrone a "compelling ride" and praised the "sleek" direction, "savvy" score and "reliably funny" cast performances. In The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw described it as an "odd, slightly baffling but likable piece of work [...] with its own peculiarly unexpected innocence and charm" and commended the "powerhouse performances" from the lead cast. Amon Warmann gave the film rating of 4 out of 5 stars in his review for Empire and called it a "stylish, laugh-out-loud blast that has something to say but doesn't sacrifice enjoyment to do so, anchored by a trio of great performances". Debiparna Chakraborty of Far Out magazine gave the film a rating of 3.5/5, writing: "While it may exhibit moments of unevenness, They Cloned Tyrone still makes for an entertaining ride with the potential to become a cult favourite."

In IndieWire, Christian Zilko gave the film a B+ grade, noting similarities between the film and Sorry to Bother You in their "genre-bending social satire" and praising the "infectious" chemistry of the lead cast. Todd McCarthy of Deadline admired the cast performances and production design, but found the film never quite reaches its full potential, summarizing: "They Cloned Tyrone seems poised to become something that, at least initially, feels fresh, a conjunction of sci-fi and blaxploitation that, 50 years after the latter genre's heyday, could possibly give it a welcome recharge, if not a full-bodied return. But, as ready as the audience might be to be transported to hitherto unvisited districts of the genre's potential universe, Tyrone never quite gets there". Owen Gleiberman of Variety wrote that despite its "good set-up", "the film is too sketchy and conceptual to work as a bad-dream thriller".

References

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2023 comedy films
2023 films
2023 directorial debut films
2023 science fiction films
2020s American films
2020s comedy mystery films
2020s English-language films
2020s science fiction comedy films
American comedy mystery films
American science fiction comedy films
Blaxploitation films
Films about cloning
Films shot in Atlanta
Hood films