Undercover Brother

I loved "Undercover Brother!" It's the movie "Pootie Tang" should have been! I found it over-the-top, laugh-out-loud funny! Eddie Griffin scores as Undercover Brother, an afrolicious version of Austin Powers. And Chris Kattan is hilarious as Mr. Feather, an evil underling of The Man, devoted to the white man's dominance, but succumbing to hip-hop influence. Other funny performances came from Dave Chappelle as the paranoid Conspiracy Brother, and Neil Patrick Harris as the clueless caucasian intern Lance. Some viewers may complain about the black stereotypes, but you must look at it as black actors and filmmakers laughing at themselves. It's all a "solid" laugh!

I first saw "Undercover Brother" on cable a few years ago and since then it's become one of my favorite comedies of recent years. Though it's basically a "blaxploited" version of the "Austin Powers" concept, "Undercover Brother" is funny enough to be enjoyable on its own merits.

As the film opens, we are filled in on the ongoing battle between the black community and a super secret organization known as "The Man," who works tirelessly to negate African-American influence on the world at large. Fortunately, the black community has its own underground group, known as "The B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D." created to undermine The Man's plans to "Whitewash" the world.

Eddie Griffin stars as Undercover Brother, a funky '70s throwback hero with a huge Afro and platform shoes, who drives around in a pimped-out Caddy performing acts of Kung-Fu derring-do to aid the African American cause. Normally a lone wolf, he is drafted into the B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D. when a black war hero (Billy Dee Williams)'s plans to run for President are derailed by a mind control drug designed by The Man. Now rather than run for the White House, he runs a nationwide Fried Chicken chain instead. Ably assisted by fellow B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D. agents Sistah Girl, Conspiracy Brother, Smart Brother, and "Lance" (Neil Patrick Harris in a hilarious turn as the lone white member of the group -- he got his internship through -- what else? -- affirmative action), Undercover Brother infiltrates The Man's organization to destroy the plot, though he nearly becomes a victim of their most potent weapon, the gorgeous Denise Richards, aka "White She-Devil" (whom "The Man" calls "Black Man's Kryptonite.") along the way.

I have seen a lot of discussion on IMDb about this film being "racist" towards whites, but to be honest, I found "Undercover Brother" to be an equal opportunity offender, with no stereotype about blacks OR whites going un-skewered. The cast is excellent, especially Dave Chapelle as the eternally paranoid agent "Conspiracy Brother," and the always welcome Chi McBride as the long-suffering "Chief" of The B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D. Denise Richards looks amazing in a white leather catsuit (her catfight scene with "Sistah Girl" is worth the price of the DVD all by itself), and oddly enough, even though I usually find Eddie Griffin and Chris Kattan (who plays The Man's flunky, "Mr. Feather") quite irritating in other films, their shtick totally works in "Undercover Brother." Fast, funny, and an utterly silly good time, "Undercover Brother" is -- in the words of its hero -- "Solid."

Undercover Brother is a smart and sassy comedy similar to Austin Powers. Eddie Griffin stars as Undercover Brother a smooth seceret agent type cat who is out to save the world from the Man. He gets help from the brother hood who have employess with names like Conspiracy Brother & Smart Brother and Sistah Girl. The supporting cast of Chi McBride, Chris Kattan and Denise Richards are all very good but Dave Chapple steals every scene he's in. Malcom D.Lee has made a worthy follow up to The Best Man and Unisversal may have a new franchise on their hands.

OK, OK, it's basically a black "Austin Powers," but it's not claiming to be more than that, it's reasonably well made, and a good 65% is downright hilarious. But I agree completely with the member who said this is a movie you have to "get." Meaning that, as a 40-year-old A.A. male seeing this in a downtown Washington theatre with a strong presence of folks my age and slightly above (i.e., old enough to remember when all of the black references were taken seriously), then not only did I get it but so did the rest of the audience -- the perfect conditions in which to see this movie. Chances are most (under 25, non-black) folks who don't fall into at least one of these catagories better stick with "Episode II," even on the 3rd go-around. The member who tried to compare the two films is precisely what I mean by not getting it.

I realize it's an odd concept -- a summer movie that ISN'T made to appeal to absolutely everyone -- but, hey. See for yourself. What it is!

...Most of the time, the type of comedies we get are teen comedies that pretty much only focus on sexual topics. Not my cup of tea. It's just not funny.

But here, we have a brilliantly funny comedy about a black man mentally stuck in the 70s who's out their protecting racial equality. We also have "The Brotherhood," a secret organization doing the same thing, consisting of mostly blacks. But they stress the message that you just have to be "down" to be in the brotherhood, and you don't have to be black. At first, it seems like only blacks are welcome. But then they realize that working as an equal team is how the job should really be done, regardless of one's race. So this movie has a good message, despite all the racial jokes.

But enough of that. This movie is hilarious! The jokes they make about both black culture and white culture kept me laughing all the way through. You can't take it too seriously. If you do, getting offended will come with the territory for you, and that's not what this movie is about. What goes through my head when the jokes are cracked is, "That's exactly how it is!" And I'm a white guy.

Sure, a lot of the jokes are ones that have been used before. But the WAY they're used in this movie and the creativity behind it all is what made me laugh.

So if you don't get offended easily by culture jokes, and you're in the mood to laugh a lot, this movie is for you.