Overall Rating Awesome: 28.21% Worth A Look: 33.33% Just Average: 20.51% Pretty Crappy: 0% Sucks: 17.95% 2 reviews, 27 user ratings

Latest Reviews Bukowski at Bellevue by Charles Tatum American, The by Erik Childress Centurion by Jay Seaver Diabolique (1955) by MP Bartley Last Exorcism, The by Rob Gonsalves Tears for Sale by Jay Seaver Last Exorcism, The by brianorndorf Takers by brianorndorf Mesrine: Instinct of Death by brianorndorf Tommy by brianorndorf subscribe to this feed

Latest Features Reliving the Summer of 1990 - Week Fourteen A Visit to Star Wars Celebration V Reliving the Summer of 1990 - Week Thirteen DVD Reviews For 8/20: “A Little Less Than Kin But Less Than Kind” The Last Song (Blu-ray Review) Interview: Daniel Stamm And His 'Last Exorcism' A Hundred Kinds of Exile: Suheir Hammad on ‘Salt of This Sea' DVD Reviews For 8/13: “Terror. Horror. Death. Film At Eleven!” Reliving the Summer of 1990 - Week Twelve Reliving the Summer of 1990 - Week Eleven subscribe to this feed

Malibu's Most Wanted

List Price:		$18.98
Price:
find out more information

Buy posters from this movie

by Scott Weinberg

"I laughed a lot and was shocked to find myself doing so."

Th trailer made the film look like unmitigated garbage of the highest order. Plus we've been inundated with so many atrocious "race comedies" lately that I could be forgiven for half-dismissing this flick prior to seeing it. So imagine my pleased reactions when the movie made me laugh for a solid 75 minutes.

I say '75 minutes' quite simply because the last 15 are just awful. With no clear idea on how to end this amiable farce, the filmmakers opted to throw in a bunch of car crashes and a big explosion, thereby hoping to send viewers out of the theater on some sort of artificial adrenalin rush.

It nearly ruins the entire flick.

But let's back up: I expected to loathe this movie. Yet no matter how sure I am that a movie will be awful, once the lights go down and the endless parade of car commercials end, every movie gets a fair shake.

Jamie Kennedy has proven he can be a damn funny guy. Somehow wresting the Scream spotlight from the frothing lunatic that is Matthew Lillard and capably presenting a consistently amusing TV series (The Jamie Kennedy Experiment), it's clear that Jamie has some solid comedy chops. But that trailer. Hoo boy.

The movie centers on affluent spoiled 'wigger' B-Rad and his politician Daddy's attempts at having "the black scared out of him". To this end, Dad's campaign manager hires two black actors to pose as 'gangstas' while staging a phony B-rad kidnapping.

What makes Malibu's Most Wanted worthy of your eight bucks is that it tweaks and mocks those racial stereotypes that movies like Head of State and Bringing Down the House use as currency. Plus Taye Diggs (as one of the 'whitest' black characters you'll ever see) steals scene after scene. If you'd have told me that Taye Diggs would one day earn a dozen solid laughs from me, I'd have thought you insane. The guy runs away with the movie and his presence alone makes it a fun time.

This is a paper-thin farce made most logically for the teenage crowd, yet there are several moments that will keep the adults entertained. B-Rad's likening of the urban ghetto to 'the public all up on your private beach' had me giggling for about five minutes. Other moviegoers started looking at me with annoyed glances.

If you're looking for something artistic and brilliantly conceived, I suggest you look elsewhere. But there's something to be said for a straight sitcom flick that delivers the laughs. Since humor is highly subjective, your Chuckle Mileage may vary, but I give this one a solid recommendation and do so without a second thought. It's not as clever as last year's Undercover Brother but it's nice to see a few Race Comedies that don't leer, pander and suck.

Hardly Shakespeare but oh well. I laughed a lot.

Share |

link directly to this review at http://www.hollywoodbitchslap.com/review.php?movie=7527&reviewer=128
originally posted: 04/23/03 01:51:15

printer-friendly format

User Comments

11/15/09 mr.mike Has many funny moments. 4 stars

3/02/08 uno I love it when he began to rap at the end trying to end the peace. it was horrible 4 stars

1/03/06 cody sort of dumb white boy meets the ghetto, this movie just bling bling 4 stars

6/16/05 Manu Ginobli As lame as white kids who act black. Death to all wiggers. 1 stars

11/10/04 colin chandler its ok my favorite line is "we cant they to strapped" 4 stars

4/06/04 rachel lafountain i would suggest this movie who likes to laugh omg B-rad "jamie kennedy" is so0o hott!!!:) 5 stars

11/06/03 target This movie is Awesome!!! 5 stars

9/30/03 Samuel Justus The only thing good was Snoop Dogg as the Rat!! 3 stars

9/20/03 djacosta Very funny 4 stars

9/15/03 Brian D. Crandall I'd rather lick the bottom of maggot filled trash can than experience this flick again. 1 stars

8/11/03 The Savage I'd rather get a slurpee than watch B-rad, but it wasn't horrible 3 stars

7/21/03 Ghetto Smurf my name is bob 5 stars

6/16/03 none of yo buisnezz jamie kennedy was so funny and regina hall was so pretty 5 stars

5/31/03 mee FUNNY 5 stars

5/24/03 Marni Jamie K and Nick Swardson are hott! I love them both. I have much respect for them. 5 stars

5/07/03 Tasha Cole ok-I took my 14 yr old to see it-and we both rated it a "B"-funny-but maybe a movie to rent 4 stars

5/05/03 Jack Bourbon Don't be hatin' on B-rad 4 stars

4/27/03 Jennifer I started crying, I was laughing so hard! Jamie Kennedy was great and looked so hot! 5 stars

4/24/03 syrius if i wanted to watch ridiculous wannabes, i could just go to my school 1 stars

4/23/03 Mister Killjoy Who the hell did untalented Jamie Kennedy blow to get this deal? 1 stars

4/23/03 Dr. Bitterpants Pauly Shore and Carrot Top say: "15 minutes of fame never looked so good!" 1 stars

4/22/03 jstyle very funny...worth it for jamie k's performance 5 stars

4/21/03 scream funny 5 stars

4/19/03 George Jung I assume this movie is a fucking comedy, but no one in the audiece laughed. Not One! 1 stars

4/19/03 scream A GREAT FILM 5 stars

4/19/03 Brianna This movie was very funny! Jamie Kennedy fit the part so well. 5 stars

4/17/03 Bob Odenkirk This is the worst piece of s*** I've seen in a long time 1 stars

IF YOU'VE SEEN THIS FILM, RATE IT!
Note: Duplicate, 'planted,' or other obviously improper comments
will be deleted at our discretion. So don't bother posting 'em. Thanks!

Your Name:

Your Comments:

Your Location: (state/province/country)

Your Rating:

USA 18-Apr-2003 (PG-13) UK N/A Australia 24-Jul-2003

Directed by John Whitesell Written by Jamie Kennedy Nick Swardson Adam Small & Fax Bahr Cast Jamie Kennedy Taye Diggs Anthony Anderson Blair Underwood Regina Hall Ryan O'Neal

Advertisement

Overall Rating

Latest Reviews

Latest Features

User Comments