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Review Uploaded
05/09/03

1 hr. 26 min.
Starring: Jamie Kennedy, Taye Diggs, Anthony Anderson, Regina Hall, Damien Dante Wayans, Blair Underwood, Ryan O'Neal, Bo Derek, Snoop Dog
Directed by: John Whitesell

Rating: ** stars (out of 4 stars)

Anyone who has checked out the weekly antics of TV personality Jamie Kennedy on his WB-TV sketch comedy show JKX: The Jamie Kennedy Experiment certainly knows what an absolute scream this performer can be with his contemporary cut up Candid Camera-inspired high jinks. Well, Kennedy seizes the opportunity to bring one of his JKX creations to the big screen in the persona of a suburban Jewish Eminem-esque gangsta rapper in the laborious and repetitive one-joke comedy Malibu’s Most Wanted. Although one can see the need for capitalizing on the increasingly tired formula where a clueless white guy surrenders himself to the hip hop world of urban black angst through the volatile vibes of the high-profile rap culture, the skimpy ghettoized goings-on of Maibu’s Most Wanted feels awfully recycled particularly after the previous inexplicable success of formulaic farces Bringing the House Down and Head of State.

When Kennedy camouflages himself as this wannabe badass blonde-headed singing sensation simply “chillin” out with his homeboys, you have to admit that the concept is inherently uproarious in the sense that it plays into the fears of reserved white America and its frightening yet understandable reservations about the pervasive influence of this urbanized lifestyle poisoning the minds and invading the proper perspectives of their curiosity-seeking “impressionable youths”. Kennedy and his co-writers Fax Bahr, Adam Small and Nick Swardson do capture the intermittent preposterous notion of skewering the race-related aspects by presenting the ridiculous stereotypical exaggerations associated with a black-and-white racial view on just how typically mainstream rap music and its whole controversial universe has become in the indelible mindset of the American psyche.

On paper, the ridiculousness that radiates throughout Malibu’s Most Wanted had the potential of tacking on some clever scathing to the sentiment of having privileged white kids escape to the subversive and desperate universe of inner city black kids that feel this gangsta movement is their stylized signature salvation of expression through celebration, frustration and liberation. But the material is often too flat and derivative to realize the richness it may have had in skillfully spoofing the sometimes nonsensical or compelling components behind the motivation that drives youths of all nationalities to gravitate toward the grittiness of the rap subculture and its ribaldry. Instead, Kennedy and company are never really that intuitive or ambitious to make this flimsy fable more substantive in terms of being shockingly honest and probing. In fact, it merely bows out to a thinly conceived display of occasional guilty pleasure giggles here and there that are about as hilarious as a former neglected TV child star police mug shot photo. On television, this 10-minute gimmick of Kennedy strutting around as a millennium “phat” version of Vanilla Ice may play well in front of the boob tube masses but in movie theaters where folks expect more bang for their buck, this showy schtick grows awfully tired as an anemic feature length film trying hard to flex its irreverent flabby muscles.

Brad Gluckman (Kennedy) is living in the comfortable surroundings of his cozy Californian community. Brad, or B-Rad to his “homies in the ‘hood”, is immersed in the whole rapping scene that consumes his very empty soul. The sight gag of B-Rad’s attire speaks for itself: oversized drooping baggy pants to compliment the several gold-plated chains choking his bony neck. Much like his bee-bopping brethren, B-Rad suffers from a supposedly uneventful existence hence supporting his penchant for having a bad attitude. His misery is transformed into a lyrical loophole of concerns that may range from his “crib” (translation: his mansion-sized residence) to the type of beverage that he drinks (what would Malibu living be without the reassuring taste of some addictive latte, right?). Okay, B-Rad doesn’t have the common nitty-gritty struggles that most of his oppressed “brothas” were subjected to in their lifetime. But one thing’s certainly clear-there’s an underlying conflict that bothers Brad more than what he actually is aware of in his quest to “chill” out. B-Rad is not shy when it comes to investigating the thrills of his hardcore rap livelihood. And when B-Rad is cornered into an uncompromising position, he’d be the first one to frantically utter, “Don’t be hatin’”!

For the record, B-Rad, er-Brad-does present somewhat of an embarrassing tag for his emotionally elusive politician father Bill Gluckman (Ryan O’Neal) who happens to be seeking the governor’s seat. With B-Rad acting as unpredictable and unruly as a Beastie Boy at a Shakespearean play in the park, his father Bill is concerned about his chances for winning a rigorous campaign when in fact his son is parading around like some rejected musical act from Soul Train. If only the disoriented Bill can convince Brad to abandon his hip-hop habits and welcome back the white bread blandness that he was meant to demonstrate then things can progress as far as his political aspirations are concerned.

With time running out, immediate action has to be issued in order to put a stop to the foolishness that Brad’s been perpetrating with reckless abandonment. With the assistance of gubernatorial candidate Gluckman’s African-American campaign manager Tommy Gibbons (Blair Underwood), they make arrangements to hire respectable actors Sean and PJ (Taye Diggs and Anthony Anderson) to pose as hardened gangsta rappers in an effort to scare mischievous B-Rad back into the fragile shell of a clean cut affluent Brad Gluckman. The mission: kidnap the hip-hopping costumed creep and show him the REAL deal behind the notorious South Central and the unsavory and intimidating lifestyle that currently fascinates him to no end. So the remaining question remains this: will B-Rad quiver in his boots and get over his black-oriented rapping phase after enduring the scary ritual of bona fide gangstas in their scabrous elements? To the contrary, the plan blows up in the face of Bill and his conspirators and B-Rad benefits from the results. Heck, he even manages to inadvertently help out his scheming father politically and nabs the fringe benefit of securing a lovely ebony honey in the person of Shondra (Regina Hall).

The theme behind Malibu’s Most Wanted had so many possibilities it squandered so clumsily that it’s a total crying shame. The adventurous nature of a rich rappin’ white boy looking for some needed attention based upon whatever unresolved issues he silently agonizes over definitely could have been imaginative had director John Whitesell instilled some forethought into this frayed production and took advantage of the movie’s cultural and economic class considerations. The film practically ignored the waving flag that provided some ripe fodder for subject matters pertaining to the plethora of a robust smorgasbord: insensitive wealthy white folks, blacks that come in different casings that represent the streetwise ruffians (rappers), the opportunistic and sellouts (Underwood’s campaign manager) and the over-achievers and intellectuals (hired hams Diggs and Anderson as educated thespians forced to cater to the painful black thug prototype), the inclusion of other ethnic entities such as Latino gang members and Asian small business owners and the sleazy gamesmanship of self-absorbed politicians looking to get ahead at the sheer ignorance of their constituents. With all this juicy meat to work with, Whitesell and Kennedy decide to bite into the dry parts thus turning this improbable romp into another excitable dumb kidnapping caper with cartoonish caricatures going through the familiar motions. In short, the shizzle never quite matches the hizzle.

Ironically, some of the supporting cast in Malibu’s Most Wanted is more interesting in their satirical fiber than that of star Kennedy who tries so hard to convey his B-Rad alter ego as the unlikely cocky Caucasian rebel assuming the credo of the mean streets. The trouble is that Kennedy’s clownish antics as a white rapper who believes in his own hype is not unique or revealing enough to take our minds off of the real white rapping singing stars who we’ve grown accustomed to in all their animated bravura. He’s basically mimicking these artists without really adding any dimension or vibrancy to their stature as celebrated oddities. Where’s the shock value in watching Kennedy’s B-Rad quip, “rhymin’ with a conviction that far outruns his diction”? What about getting a rise out of B-Rad’s sidekicks (Nick Swardson and Kal Penn) as the hapless tandem that blindly follow his lead like a couple of lost lapdogs? It’s a cute diversion I suppose but then anyone can watch creative foul-mouthed white guys and their hangers-on make a spectacle of themselves on MTV, right?

The message is loud and clear: there’s unfairness about labeling and restricting one’s freedom to be who they feel they need to be. And the point is made that B-Rad is no more an imposter as a slick-talking gangsta than that of the articulate black captors that were instructed to knock some sense into his noggin. Of course the flip side states that maybe B-Rad should have the flexibility of being who he chooses to be in his B-Rad persona much like Sean and PJ’s plea for what they want-to be taken seriously as educated young men looking to wear a fresh label beyond the preconceived poster boy pin-ups for the typical antagonistic black male.

If only this movie was shrewd and introspective to pull off this trick, Malibu’s Most Wanted would have registered with the right context of caustic jousting. This transparent carousing comedy is definitely “not off the hook.”