Beverly Hood

You can tell that this movie is low budget, but the premise is relatively believable and has a nice twist at the end. At times, it seems like a showcase of the music on the soundtrack, but those scenes aren't that long. There are a few very funny scenes (almost always the ones with Lavell Crawford or Buddy Lewis involved) but also some bad parts that seem like the actors were improvising poorly or just talking. All in all, if this movie is on cable for free or you see it for $1 on DVD in the store, it's worth picking up just to see the old Destiny's Child all together. If it's going to cost you more than $1 to watch it, I'd say save your money. The way that the cover art looks like something that's been photoshopped is a good indication of the quality of the film.

And if you somehow don't pick up on it, this is supposed to be a black parody take on The Beverly Hillbillies. Most of the Hillbillies characters have a double in this movie (Jed = Red, Ellie May = Pammie, Granny = Papa, Mr. Drysdale and his wife = the uppity neighbors, Jethro = Nathan etc)

This is a stupidical send-up of "The Beverly Hillbillies" in the utmost meaning of it. I saw this just the other day,believe me when you see it that it is poorly written,poorly acted,and poorly directed,but I'll give it a thumb up for being half funny. It's a crying shame that this did not got straight to a movie theatre(or BET-TV for that manner)because it went straight to video just for that reason. Here you have a bunch of black folks that just get up there and act so darn silly at times,you hardly know what is going to happened next or to follow the storyline for that manner which gets off course. Basically the cast consists of comedians from BET's "Comicview",and actress(or crazy lady)Kim Whitley from BET's "Oh Drama!",and from the UPN series "Sparks". Its a shame that we as a people(African-Americans,some not all of them do this) get a role in a movie and act so foolish at times that we make ourselves look stupid. So pathetic.

NOTE: This movie also features three original members of the girl group Destiny's Children(also known as Destiny's Child before they went big time) with a young looking Beyonce Knowles who is in this movie for about 15 minutes who portrays one of the family members.

Based very loosely on the TV series The Beverly Hillbillies (1962 -1971) this movie looked like it might be going somewhere but wentdownhill within the first 10 minutes. Basically a poor hillbilly family win the lottery and move to Beverly Hills. The plot was very poor as was the ham fisted acting. It seemed like a cheap vehicle to showcase the lack of talent of Lavell Crawford and Buddy Lewis. At times it was like a mish mash of comedy sketches. I was fortunate that I only rented this movie, if I'd bought it I would have more extremely disappointed. As it stands this was an hour and a half of my life I'll never get back.

I will start this by saying that I have seen some bad movies in my day. To be completely honest I have often sought them out due to a "bad movie" addiction that I will now seek counseling for thanks to this movie watching experience. After enduring 'Beverly Hood' and successfully fighting the urge to hunt down and maim every single person involved in this travesty I decided that the next best thing would be to review it. First, I would like to go on the record, as saying this movie alone is responsible for conjuring up just about EVERY negative stereotype associated with African Americans known to man. If someone had actually shown up tap-dancing in blackface with watermelon and chicken in tow I could safely say that all bases would have been covered. Given the production as a whole I don't believe anyone would have been surprised or offended. Every single "actor" in this movie went through great lengths to distinguish him or herself as a combination of every ignorant character you have ever seen and that is saying a lot. Everyone is loud, stupid and apparently from Mississippi. I am an African American from the south and I have never encountered ANYONE that is even vaguely similar to any of these buffoons. While I cannot say that people of this caliber do not exist, I find it very difficult to believe this sort of behavior should be celebrated in a movie. Speaking of which, how did this even get made??? I know that this is supposed to be a comedy and I should probably lighten up but I found none of this entertaining. There was no semblance of a plot and I am not even sure why there is a writing credit because all of the dialogue seems to be improvised with disastrous results. I should have been sent a t-shirt commemorating the fact that I even made it through this dreck. Now that I think about it, I am almost certain that would bolster the cycle of ignorance which this movie is based upon and therefore make this entire review moot so never mind. It seriously pains me to even attempt to recall any of its "highlights" for a synopsis so I won't even bother. I had to close my eyes or simply walk out of the room during the more trying scenes. Characters appear out of nowhere spout embarrassing dialogue and disappear. Editing? What editing? To say that it looks like it was edited with a machete would be a direct insult to the machete itself. Nothing in this movie makes any sense. The narrator plays a number of characters including what I would classify as the worst man in drag I have EVER seen as well as a playing preacher who shows up out of nowhere to conduct a wedding only to disrupt it by getting into heated exchange with another preacher who is actually scheduled to be there. Why that was supposed to be funny is beyond me and you will find yourself asking that very same question throughout this venture. Kym Whitley's outlandish southern "accent" is non existent half way into the film, maybe she suddenly became aware of the crime she was committing but it was too little too late, the damage was done when she signed on for this tripe. This movie is not worth your time or energy; trust me you will feel as if you were hit by a bus after seeing only a few minutes. I'm still exhausted and I saw this over a week ago. Consider yourself warned, and if a friend of yours tells you that you should see this movie and tries to convince you that it is some cinematic masterpiece you need to know right now that they are NOT your friend and you should rethink every movie recommendation from them from that day forward or quite possibly reconsider the friendship itself. Only watch this movie if you have lots of time that you care nothing about getting back or have access to potent prescription medication, you will need it.

Admittedly, this is definitely not going to be anyone's favorite movie of all time, but it isn't the worst movie ever made like some people mentioned in these reviews. Some people just totally lose it when they unknowingly watch a low-budget movie, expecting an all-around stellar movie performance. That is what Hollywood has turned so many people into these days. If you appreciate the efforts people make with the best budget they can get, and you can see through movie budgeting, this movie will be manageable to watch. I must admit though, I gave it a 4 out of 10 for a reason...because they could have spent more time working with the screen writing; improving on the storyline and comedy a bit. If you have the right talent, you can make a funny movie with a home video camera and a basement. I'm not saying this movie was "good" necessarily, I'm just saying that there are plenty of worse movies out there with the same budget I imagine this movie having. This is a good middle-of-the-night movie too. When you are real tired or a little 'partied-out', this movie should seem rather funny. Just see past the low budget part of the movie and watch it for what the filmmakers intended for the movie to become...a 4 out of 10 movie!