They Cloned Tyrone

 They Cloned Tyrone is a 2023 American science fiction comedy mystery film directed by Juel Taylor. The film was co-written by Taylor and Tony Rettenmaier and is Taylor's feature film directorial debut. The film 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.

Fontaine is a drug dealer in a retrofuturistic 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 when a man, bleeding from a gunshot, was kidnapped by a mysterious van, which is now parked outside of a trap house. Fontaine goes inside the house to investigate, with Slick and Yo-Yo, who voice their concerns. 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 forcefully 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, every person in the building begins laughing at the same time, which makes Slick realize that the fried chicken, which has been said to have a new secret ingredient, contains the same white substance that he consumed previously. Investigating further, Yo-Yo seduces the restaurant manager, who coincidentally looks very similar to the scientist Slick killed. She discovers that the entirety of the Glen is being surveilled and recorded. They later discover that the substance is also being used in grape drinks and hair products for Black women. Through some hidden messages from an alcoholic Fontaine encounters daily, they discover a local Black church where the group becomes unsettled by disturbing lyrics that the churchgoers collectively sing, as a result of the grape drink's influence. After the service finishes, 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 behavioural experiments. They find that the lab has clones of many Glen residents, including themselves. They also watch the predominantly white scientists control the clones through certain songs and visual stimulation. They exit through a local 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 like him 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 on them that, which doesn't affect Yo-Yo, he threatens to use it on them 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 accidentally exposed and is subsequently 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 real Fontaine. He explains that he is helping scientists to create "peace" by literally 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 explaining that the country would be better with assimilation than annihilation, the elder Fontaine is killed when Fontaine uses Nixon's trigger word on Chester to shoot him. 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 exact same lifestyle as Fontaine. While with his friends, he watches as one of Fontaine's clones appears on TV, all realizing that Tyrone is a clone of Fontaine.

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