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PureDesi
Reviews
Undercover Brother (2002)
Great Potential, Not-so-great Movie
From the moment I saw the preview, I had made a mental note to see "Undercover Brother." Being quite the fan of comedy movies (even slapstick and brainless ones), I had expected something of a Black comedy version of "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective," added with Chris Kattan's unique blend and some good one-liners.
I was sorely disappointed.
Unfortunately, this was one of those comedy movies in which the wittiest parts of the movie were all shown in the preview. The plot had potential, but it was by no means exploited to that potential. Borrowing from similar scenes from "Scary Movie," "Half-Baked," etc., the movie tried to attract each of their target audiences, without pleasing any. The subplot with "White She Devil" began with great potential... but the subplot ended abruptly and ceased in its humor. The Black comedy/Afro-centric plot also had potential, but I do believe the makers of the movie forgot a very important demographic fact: this movie was geared (or at least seemed to be geared) towards a "teen" audience... However, the African-American culture the plot was geared around was one of the 70s (as the movie itself pointed out.) Thus, many of the jokes based upon this culture that were throughout the movie did not connect with their audience. Furthermore, the Black figures the movie used were older in nature, and also did not connect.
All in all, if you've seen the preview for this movie, you've seen it in its entirety. This movie had the potential to be in the ranks of teen movies such as Scary Movie, American Pie, etc. because of what it was trying to do, but it quite unfortunately failed at doing it.
Bubble Boy (2001)
Absolutely Terrible
Admittedly, I've wasted my money in the past on frivolous things.
Here's another waste of money to add to the list.
I've always been a fan of crazy, weird, and often downright stupid comedy movies... everything from Kevin Smith movies and South Park to SNL.
I don't even believe that this movie could be called a comedy. Perhaps something on the line of horror?
The plot had potential, unfortunately, the potential was lost in an attempt to use supposedly witty connections to ethnic minority groups, cults, and other groups... which seems to have become the easy method of making a comedy without a plot.
The movie fails miserably in its attempt at humor. There are ways to use humor, even pick on various groups as the movie attempts to do, and challenge social norms, without blatant disregard for accuracy (i.e. South Park). As a Hindu, the example which stands out is its absolute butchery of Hindu theology..=] In my opinion, there are plenty of things that are humorous enough within the religion that can be used as material for a comedy by maintaining at least the guise of accuracy. This has been done before... the Simpsons, while definitely not a cross-section of the Asian-Indian culture in the U.S., is still funny, while maintaining a needed bit of sensitivity for accuracy. Even South Park, while routinely abrasive, has maintained at least a slight bit of accuracy (i.e. the "Super Friends" episode). You see, when accuracy is maintained, the level of humor is increased, which the storywriters of the movie seemed to simply forget. There are countless other examples of idiocy within the movie... but if I keep going, hey, I'll be here all morning.
Do yourself a favor and watch a good comedy...=] The plot had potential, and a few parts of the movie even had me thinking that all hope wasn't lost. All in all, disappointing.