Undercover Brother (2002)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Malcolm D. Lee

Writers (WGA):

John Ridley (internet series)
John Ridley (story)

Release Date:

31 May 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy

Tagline:

He's All Action

Plot:

When "The Man" tries to derail a black candidate's presidential campaign, Undercover Brother and his fellow secret agents come to the rescue.

Plot Keywords:

Undercover | Secret Agent | Disguise | Cadillac | African American

Awards:

5 nominations

Cast

Eddie Griffin	...	Undercover Brother / Anton Jackson
Chris Kattan	...	Mr. Feather
Denise Richards	...	White She Devil
Aunjanue Ellis	...	Sistah Girl
Dave Chappelle	...	Conspiracy Brother
Chi McBride	...	The Chief
Neil Patrick Harris	...	Lance
Gary Anthony Williams	...	Smart Brother
Billy Dee Williams	...	Gen. Warren Boutwell
Jack Noseworthy	...	Mr. Elias
Robert Trumbull	...	The Man
J.D. Hall	...	Narrator (voice)
William B. Taylor	...	Roscoe the Barber (as William Taylor)
Shauna MacDonald	...	Wendy Marshall - TV Anchor
Ron Pardo	...	Chuck

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for language, sexual humor, drug content and campy violence.

Runtime:

86 min | Argentina:88 min | UK:85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Finland:K-11 | Iceland:12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Canada:14A | Germany:12 | New Zealand:M | Norway:11 | South Korea:15 | Spain:T | Sweden:7 | UK:12 | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Distillery District, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

Denise Richards claims that her derriere was digitally enlarged for the film's cover and promotional material.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Anton Jackson is sipping his smoothie in the Brotherhood headquarters, the drink loses its lid towards the end of the scene.

Quotes:

Conspiracy Brother: No, it's once your black there's no turning back.

Movie Connections:

References Single White Female (1992)

Soundtrack:

Macarena

Hilarious but not for the easily offended

If you find 'Family Guy', 'Married ... with Children' or even 'The Simpsons' to be in bad taste, you may want to avoid this movie. If you found 'Good Times' and 'What's Happening!' to be stereotypical and buffoonish, you probably won't like this movie.

If you are still reading ...

According to this movie, African Americans have made numerous advances as a result of the Civil Rights movement. But a powerful Caucasian male known as 'The Man', whose face we never see, wants to put black people back in their place.

Which is why the B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D. must stop him.

If there was such a person as 'The Man', he could have written this movie.

Eddie Griffin did quite a good job in what were essentially two roles. Most of the time, he had the giant afro and the cool clothes and the classic Cadillac pumping out funky 70s music as he represented everything good (or bad, depending on your view) about the 'blaxploitiation' genre. And he worked undercover as Anton Jackson wearing a suit and acting more white than I do. A very good contrast, showing a lot of acting skill.

Billy Dee Williams nailed the potential presidential candidate obviously based on Colin Powell, who was acting very strange for some reason. Not quite stereotypical, because he was always dignified--but shouldn't have been. His advertising campaign was hilarious!

Denise Richards and Aunjanue Ellis also gave good performances as the two female partners of Undercover Brother--one when he was black, and one when he was undercover.

Chi McBride and Gary Anthony Williams were very funny as two of Undercover Brother's associates. And Dave Chappelle was very stereotypical, very racist, but very funny--it was just satire, after all. Neil Patrick Harris did quite a good job as the organization's token white. And let's not forget the one associate of 'The Man' who seemed to want to be black and even acted black at times. That must have been Chris Kattan.

With all these talented actors, there were of course very clever writers to make the material so hilarious. It takes real talent to produce satire as opposed to just being mean-spirited.

The music was good too, for this type of movie. I personally would like to have heard Jay-Z do Lawrence Welk. Or maybe not. Today's artists don't often sound as good as, say, Rod Stewart. I'm not hopeless, though. I can't stand Michael Bolton or Celine Dion or, even though he wasn't mentioned but could have been, Kenny G. For some reason I do like 'Jungle Boogie' by Kool and the Gang.

I highly recommend this movie for fans of satire.