Undercover Brother (***)
review by Jon Waterman

Undercover Brother, the "Robin Hood of the ‘hood" who wears nothing but disco-era clothes and a big ol’ ‘fro to boot, joins B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D. in order to take down The Man who is trying to hold back a black presidential candidate and brainwash the African-American population.

Wow, was I surprised when I laughed. And then it happened several times after that, too. I can even safely say that this movie was damn funny. Who would have thought it from the commercials?

Eddie Griffin plays Undercover Brother, a role Martin Lawrence would have gotten and ruined ten years ago, and he plays him well. This being a comedy, it’s tougher to judge performances, so I’m judging the cast on their ability to make me laugh. Brother is surrounded by an elite force of underground agents that form
B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D. (unfortunately, we don’t learn what this stands for) including Sistah Girl (Aunjanue Ellis), Smart Brother (Gary Anthony Williams), Conspiracy Brother (Dave Chapelle), and the Chief (Chi McBride). All of these people along with intern Lance (Neil Patrick Harris) make up a nice rounded set of characters from which jokes can be made. If they aren’t there to make the jokes themselves, then they’re there to be the subject. Either way, they have a purpose.

The bad guys, Mr. Feathers (Chris Kattan) and White She-Devil (Denise Richards) were virtually worthless to me as comic figures and it made me wish that a hero didn’t need a villain.

Let’s focus on the good though. It was written by John Ridley (who also came up with the story and has an internet show that the movie was based on) and Michael McCullers ("Austin Powers 2" and "3"). They did a great job of keeping the laughs coming and by putting little gags in places that most people would leave empty. Unfortunately, there are a few places where the jokes just fall flat, and there are the overused gags.

The film wasn’t afraid to walk that line of absurdity that has the potential to kill a comedy, and it takes a good writer to trust when that will work. On the whole, the script was very original and, like I said before, damn funny.

The director, Spike Lee’s cousin, Malcolm D. Lee ("The Best Man") and the editor, William Kerr ("Tommy Boy") worked nicely together to get the timing just right on the jokes. Malcolm made the film visually interesting and made decent use of the 70s TV show look in the credits, but knew enough to not overuse any stylization. I may regret saying this later, but I wouldn’t mind a sequel to this film. It has the potential to keep going the way it’s going as long as the writers return. If you don’t see this one in the theaters, for sure rent the video.

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