Giving opinions for several years and showing like a fine vintage
Giving opinions for several years and showing like a fine vintage
Member since:11.07.2000
Reviews:625
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Throughout the history of cinema there have been many great examples of white people masquerading as black people, black people masquerading as white people - all for comedic effect. Who can forget the hilarious Soul Man starring C. Thomas Howell, then of course there was the side splitting True Identity which saw Lenny Henry enthral audiences the world over with his portrayal of a black guy disguised as a white guy on the run from the mob.
Naturally I'm being ironic and both these films sucked.
Now we have White Chicks, a film from the director of Scary Movie starring two of his brothers and neither of them is the funny one off My Wife and Kids. Shawn and Marlon Wayans play two idiotic FBI agents who bumble yet another case and are close to being canned. But then they come across a plot to kidnap two wealthy heiresses. Of course they could just stick to some close surveillance. But instead they have the brilliant idea of getting disguised as the two sisters, living their lives and outwitting the kidnappers. With a big crime solved they'll be back in the chief's good books in no time!
White Chicks appears to
be written by that top-secret piece of screenwriting software that only Hollyood studios possess. What it does is take a bunch of worn out cinematic clichés, throws them all together and at the touch of a button a fully-fledged screenplay is written. They'll be no thought in it, but it will be formulaic enough to make some decent change at the box office. The story ticks all the familiar boxes. There's the brash police chief, the wife in need of attention who will of course get the wrong end of the stick. They'll be the musical comedy moment, there's some toilet humour and of course everything will end in a big showdown involving someone shouting 'FBI!' while holding a badge before chasing someone through a crowd or something.
But surprisingly this isn't the biggest problem with White Chicks. The problem is that for the entire film you're meant to believe that these two black guys are passing themselves off as White Chicks to everyone. It's a hard ask when you consider that these two guys don't sound like females and most of all don't look like young white women. In fact they don't even look like human beings! Amazingly in this alternative reality none of the women's friends bat an eyelid and completely buy it. Of course with such advanced makeup it's also easy to change back and become themselves in a matter of minutes. This means that all make-up featurettes you've seen on DVD are a complete lie as there's no way it can takes hours to make a black man look like a white woman. This is the White Chicks universe and it is gospel!
The jokes in the movie are all pretty thin as you've probably seen them countless times before in many a better movie. In fact you've probably seen similar style jokes in a Wayans Bros movie before. The only smirk raised comes when a pumped up black bloke is dancing with glowsticks in a nightclub blissfully unaware that his drink has been spiked. Yes in the White Chick's movie, spiking someone's drink in order to have sex with them is absolute comedy gold.
In perfect world movies such as this wouldn't even get the time of day. Sadly it pulled in $70 million in the US alone and proves once and for all that maybe there isn't a god.
Should you wish to even put yourself through the torment of witnessing this horror on dvd then I feel I must give you the lowdown on what you'll find.
The only good thing about the film and dvd is the presentation. The anamorphic widescreen transfer is very vibrant and rich in colour. But then you'd expect that from a Columbia release of a recent film. The DD5.1 soundtrack is also pretty good for a comedy, the soundtrack is very vibrant throughout with loads of music and decent surround effects.
Extras wise you're treated to a tiresome commentary from the Wayan's. Listening to it all would mean you'd have to sit through the movie and that's a fate considered worse than death.
There are also some featurettes but frankly they're merely extended trailers for the movie that reveal nothing new. But then again the movie itself is nothing new and doesn't really break any ground. They even have the audacity to praise the realism of the make-up. It was around this point that I gave up.
I really to implore to walk right by this dvd if you happen to see it on the shelf of your local rental store. It's bland, mind-numbing stuff that shouldn't really lend itself to the word comedy. Instead I implore you to dig out something like Curb Your Enthusiasm or Arrested Development. Proof that good American comedy does exist.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
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From Keenan Ivory Wayans the director of Scary Movie comes 'White Chicks' a ... more
gender-bending gut-busting comedy starring funnymen Shawn Wayans and Marlon Wayans. What happens when two fumbling FBI agents disguise themselves as mega-rich princesses ...
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From Keenen Ivory Wayans, the director of Scary Movie, comes WHITE CHICKS, a ... more
gender-bending, gut-busting comedy starring funnymen Shawn Wayans and Marlon Wayans.What happens when two fumbling FBI agents disguise themselves as mega-rich princesses to in...
![White Chicks [DVD]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78513716.jpg "White Chicks [DVD]")
Sep 14th, 2005
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