Rating:
Director: Malcolm D. Lee
Producer: Brian Grazer, Michael Jenkinson, Damon Lee
Writer: John Ridley, Michael McClullers
Director of Photography: Tom Priestley Jr.
Cast: Eddie Griffin, Aunjanue Ellis, Denise Richards, Chris Kataan
| UNDERCOVER BROTHER Rating: Director: Malcolm D. Lee Producer: Brian Grazer, Michael Jenkinson, Damon Lee Writer: John Ridley, Michael McClullers Director of Photography: Tom Priestley Jr. Cast: Eddie Griffin, Aunjanue Ellis, Denise Richards, Chris Kataan |
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Review by: Warren
Curry
6/02/02
Undercover Brother is a funny concept... for a short film. I'm quite a fan of the Blaxploitation films of the 70's and can think of a few movies made in the past 15 years that have successfully spoofed (I'm Gonna Git You Sucka) and updated (Original Gangstas) the genre. Don't let anyone fool you into thinking that Undercover Brother, in any way, takes the aforementioned genre seriously, and as far as effectively lampooning it, the film's humor works for about 10 or 15 minutes. Most of the jokes that fill the rest of the running time are painfully and/or embarrassingly off the mark, and the mock "spy" story isn't fleshed out at all and clearly just an afterthought. The film, ultimately, sputters to its conclusion, not able to come close to sustaining itself for the entire duration.
Eddie Griffin plays Undercover Brother, an African-American secret agent/superhero, who cruises around town in a 70's Cadillac and sports an Afro of monumental proportions. Undercover Brother starts off as a one-man operation doing his best to bring justice to wronged African-Americans, until his services are recruited by a militant black equality organization known as the B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D. (which, despite the periods, is apparently not an acronym). Here, under the watchful eye of The Chief (Chi McBride), Undercover Brother teams with other members of the group such as Conspiracy Brother (the unfunny David Chappelle), Smart Brother (Gary Anthony Williams), a white intern named Lance (Neil Patrick Harris, or you may know him as television's Doogie Howser, M.D.) and, most importantly, the sexy, smart and tough Sistah Girl (Aunjanue Ellis).
The group battles against Mr. Feather (Chris Kataan -- more unfunny than David Chappelle), a powerful member of a non-threatening (because it's a ridiculous comedy) white power organization that is trying to, essentially, exterminate black culture. They've already brainwashed one prominent African-American leader, General Boutwell (Billy Dee Williams), a presumed presidential candidate, who opts to forego politics to instead open a chain of fried chicken restaurants. In the process of thwarting the no-good Mr. Feather, Undercover Brother and crew have to deal with a myriad of foes, most notably the alluring Penelope Snow (Denise Richards) a.k.a. White She Devil a.k.a. "The Black Man's Kryptonite."
Aside from a hilarious scene in the beginning, when Undercover Brother's car spins out wildly on the road, yet he manages to maintain control of his vehicle with one hand, while balancing a filled-to-the-rim cup of orange soda in the other, this film elicited few laughs from me. It plays on several typical racial stereotypes and tries to present them as something to chuckle at. I'm not politically correct enough to honestly claim that I'm offended by this foolishness, but I definitely grew tired of it.
Eddie Griffin is largely obscured by his role. He doesn't bring any sort of individual personality to the character whatsoever. In light of the fact that Denise Richards so heavily figures into the movie's advertising, her role is somewhat small and she proves to be very sexy and very uninteresting. Aunjanue Ellis turns in, by far, the film's best performance, and she appears to be the only actor not completely going through the motions.
But, above and beyond all else, let's get back to the plain and simple fact that this movie just is not funny (or at least not as funny as it wants to be). David Chappelle's spasmodic performance couldn't have missed the target any worse and Chris Kataan, basically, does a horrible impression of Mike Myers. I do have to give the movie credit for tastefully tipping its cap to the legendary 70's African-American kung fu star-cum-actor Jim Kelly (Enter The Dragon, Three The Hard Way, Black Belt Jones), so I'm able to forgive some of this mess.
Malcolm D. Lee, cousin of Spike, proves
that filmmaking skills don't necessarily run in the family. However,
most of the blame should be placed on John Ridley and Michael
McClullers' flat script; there's just not enough for the director
or actors to work with. As the film drew to an end, my biggest
hope was that the powers-that-be have the good sense not to make
a sequel and, if for some reason they do, they'll kick Doogie
Howser to the curb for part two and track down Skippy from Family
Ties to assume his role... unless, of course, he's in training
for a future installment of Celebrity Boxing.
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