Undercover
Brother
Review
by : Gareth Von Kallenbach
Starring:
Eddie Griffin, Chris Kattan, Denise Richards,
Aunjanue Ellis
Directed by: Malcolm D. Lee
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Once upon a time in Hollywood, theaters were losing their
audiences to the new fangled invention known as color television.
Once the dominate force in entertainment, theaters now found
themselves losing money and desperate to win back customers
who had started to watch more and more television instead
of purchasing movie tickets.
New techniques such as Cinemascope were developed to draw
crowds back to the theater, but the high cost of producing
films in this format severely limited the number of movies
that would be shown in the new format. Desperate to stem the
tide of lost revenues, Hollywood stumbled upon a new film
genre that started a film revolution and in many ways, saved
many Hollywood studios when they were sinking fast. The time
was the late 60's and early 70's and in a bold move for the
time, Hollywood took a chance on some low-budget films that
featured black actors, directors, and music, and contained
lead characters and themes for the growing urban theater audiences.
The first film to hit big, was "Watermelon Man", a film made
for a paltry $30,000 that went on to return well over a million
dollars in ticket sales.
Quick to jump on a hot trend, studious churned out such classics
as "Sweet Sweetbacks Badass Song", "Coffey", "Blackula", and
the all time classics "Superfly" and "Shaft". The films proved
to be hits with audiences off all races and Blaxploitation
films as they became known ruled the early part of the 70's
despite criticism that they portrayed negative images and
stereotypes of urban life and were filled with far too much
sex, drugs, violence and vulgarity. In spite of the criticism,
over 200 Blaxploitation films were made from 1971-1974 and
paved the way for many of today's Black filmmakers including
Spike Lee, Mario Van Peebles, and John Singleton. Once Hollywood
had begun to rebound from the huge profits generated by the
Blaxploitation era, they began to shift their attention towards
more mainstream fare. Audiences that first flocked to the
new style of films began to see that they were being exploited
by Hollywood and fled from the cinemas in droves. Despite
the short-lived era of Blaxploitation, many of the films and
stars of the era have gone on to classic and cult status in
the hallowed halls of cinema history.
Flash forward to 2002, where a so-called "Urban" film now
has a diverse meaning. There are witty comedies; social commentaries,
gang films and romance films just as there are in mainstream
cinema. Early Blaxploitation filmmakers had dreamed of being
able to make films that would be judged the same way that
foreign, art, and mainstream films were, and slowly, but surely
it has been happening.
In the new film "Undercover Brother", "The Man" has devised
a devious plot to keep a Black candidate from the White House
with the dastardly Operation Whitewash. In order to stop "The
Man" and his sinister network, Undercover Brother (Eddie Griffin),
and the team at the B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D. must go all out
to save the day and ensure equality for all the people of
America regardless of race and gender. Clad in stylish polyester,
and sporting an afro that would make Angela Davis green with
envy, Undercover Brother is style personified; that is in
his own mind as despite living in modern times, U.B. seems
to have a hard time figuring out that the 70's are long gone
and his gas guzzling Cadillac with the blaring 8-track is
not the hip look that he thinks it is. Assisting U.B. is Sistah
Girl (Aunjanue Ellis), Conspiracy Brother (David Chappelle),
and Lance (Neil Patrick Harris) and they are as diverse a
group as they are funny, especially Lance who is only in the
group due to Affirmative Action, and sings along badly to
music that makes his fellow employees skin crawl.
The foes lined up against U.B. and staff is formidable as
Mr. Feather (Chris Kattan) and She-Devil (Denise Richards),
as "The Mans" top officers. The plot is very basic, but the
laughs are constant, what could have easily become a one joke
premise never gets old as a number of 70's and modern day
stereotypes are ribbed mercilessly without being mean spirited
or degrading. Griffin and the cast are fantastic in their
roles, as they know it is a parody and play along in good
spirit. Seeing Neal Patrick Harris go postal on a group of
bad guys is almost worth the price of a ticket alone as is
the great work by Kattan who proved that with the right material,
can be a comedic talent on the big screen. I do not wish to
give away any of the films great jokes, but suffice it to
say, I laughed heartily from start to finish as did the audience.
Lets hope that audiences will be seeing more of Undercover
Brother in the future, as I was certainly glad that he was
on the case.
Gareth
Von Kallenbach
Gareth@nwlink.com
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