Com a Cor e a Coragem

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!

An Afro-American organization, the B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D., is in permanent fight against a white organization, The Man, defending the values of the black people in North America. When the Afro-American candidate Gen. Warren Boutwell (Billy Dee Williams) has a weird behavior in his presidential campaign, the Undercover Brother (Eddie Griffin) is hired to work undercover in the white organization and find what happened with the potential candidate.

I do not recall the last time I laughed so much with a comedy. "Undercover Brother" is one of the most hilarious and silly comedies I have ever seen, and very underrated in IMDb. The story is a big joke with the North American racism, both white and black, with very funny situations "à la Austin Powers". I believe this is the major point of the plot, keeping a neutral position and ridiculing and satirizing racism of Caucasians and Blacks. Dave Chappelle is the funniest, but Chris Kattan, Eddie Griffin, Aunjanue Ellis, Denise Richards and the rest of the cast are also amazingly funny. I did not understand the joke with mayonnaise, but I believe that usually Afro-American people do not like this dressing, or at least there is a clichés about in USA. There are many other jokes related to the North American culture that are impossible to be understood by an overseas viewer, but anyway I loved this movie. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Undercover Brother – Com a Cor e a Coragem" ("Undercover Brother – With the Color and Courage")

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."

In the 80s there was a film called "i'm gonna get you sucka" about a black gang led by keenan ivory wayans who bring down a white company run by Mr. Big played by john vernon. It was hilarious and "undercover brother" is the same type of movie and equally funny. Whitey has mind-controlled a black general modeled on colin powell, and turned him away from running for president. Instead they have him shill for a fried chicken restaurant that has mind control drugs in their chicken.!! Whitey wants to turn blacks into slaves and the BROTHERHOOD led by our hero UB, is out to stop them. Among the choice bits of silliness is when smart brother develops a vaccine against the drugs but says they can't use it cause it only works on one person at a time!!! Now how can a vaccine only work on one person at a time? HAHAHA. I give this movie a B+.