This colorful blaxploitation outing is a lightweight affair but offers enough cheap thrills and campy laughs for fans of the genre. The script, which was penned by actor Max Julien (star of The Mack), is notable for applying a moral, socially positive approach to the blaxploitation genre by making its heroine an intelligent agent of the law who is out to clean up her neighborhood. However, it removes much of the fun of the average blaxploitation film in the process, creating a squeaky-clean tone devoid of the raunchy fun on display in films like Coffy and Superfly. It also suffers from a weak heroine; Cleopatra may be smart and resourceful, but the lack of depth applied to her character and the filmmakers' desire to have her be clean-cut makes her quite dull. Despite these problems, Cleopatra Jones remains quite watchable thanks to some energetic filmmaking. Jack Starrett's direction is crisp, giving the film the color and humor of a good comic book as it delivers plenty of fast, funky action. The film also benefits from a top-notch score by jazz arranger J.J. Johnson, who blends conventional orchestrations with gritty funk rhythms to create a soulful but stylish sound. In terms of acting, Tamara Dobson lacks the chops to overcome the comic-book nature of her character, but Antonio Fargas is slyly funny as the social-climbing crook Doodlebug and Shelley Winters gives one of her most memorably outrageous performances as the villainous Mommy. In the end, Cleopatra Jones is probably too lightweight and silly for a general audience, but offers up some modest charms for the patient blaxploitation enthusiast.
