Undercover Brother - "pee in your pants" funny

“You know what they say, behind every great black man, there's . . . the police . . . a bunch of slow white athletes . . . a cute butt . . . probable cause.” Undercover Brother tosses out that statement in the movie Undercover Brother and Conspiracy Brother, Smart Brother, White She-Devil, and Lance, the token white boy intern at the BROTHERHOOD, respond in character. This is the type of complex play-on-words humor that makes this slapstick movie pee-in-your-pants funny.

“The Man” (white America) is concerned that a black military general, Boutwell, is going to run for and probably win the presidential election. Yes. The guy does look and sound a lot like Colin Powell. Scientists come up with a mind control potion and pit the General against Colonel Sanders, the king of chicken. The entire black population will be controllable after eating the chicken spiked with the mind-warping drug. With a combo meal featuring a 32-ounce malt liquor, this devious plan stands a real chance of setting the black community back 200 years.

Leaders of the BROTHERHOOD call on Undercover Brother to foil this plot to destroy the black world. UB is a funky James Bond stuck in the 70s with his bubble afro and yellow Cadillac. He doesn’t go for bling-bling. He’s got his medallion and hip-hugging bellbottoms, fro picks, and stack shoes. Move over Austin Powers. As the white She-Devil puts it: “Once you’ve been with Undercover Brother, there is no other.”

All good movie heroes need some feminine back-up, and Sistah Girl has UB’s back. She also has She-Devil’s number. Sistah Girl knows some karate moves, but she goes Springer on She-Devil when the two cat fight it out over the Undercover Brother. Not to worry. UB ends up having both his vanilla and chocolate cake.

In the end, you’ll have to watch this flick to find out what happens. It’s more about the journey than the destination anyway. Though the physical humor is funny, it’s really the subtext that makes this movie absolutely hilarious. In addition to the obvious spoofing of pop culture, there are all kinds of subtle jokes that may be missed on a first viewing.

Younger viewers will enjoy this movie with the very in-your-face stereotypes of both the black and white communities. (Black people like hot sauce, and white people love mayonnaise.) The 40 and up crowd will appreciate some of the history tossed in and used to give this movie more depth than is apparent on the surface.

While I was watching this DVD, I thought perhaps the Farley brothers put this together, but it’s really too clean for those brothers. You won’t find many blatant sex jokes or many profane words in this flick. The director is Malcolm Lee (Spike Lee’s cousin), and the idea and the screen play came from John Ridley from his Internet cartoon series.

Though Eddie Griffin is the “star” of the movie as Undercover Brother, he often takes the back seat to some of the support characters. Dave Chappelle (Nutty Professor) as “Conspiracy Brother” is spot on with his timing. This is one of his classic lines: "Here's some weed man, go ahead and smoke some but be careful it makes you paranoid....what's that noise." The affirmative action white hire to the BROTHERHOOD played by Neil Patrick Harris is another stand out. He looked so familiar . . . and finally I figured out that I was seeing a grown up Doogie Howser. The thought of that was funny, and this guy really did nail his part. The female co-stars brought both eye-candy beauty to the film and also solid acting. Aunjanue Ellis as Sistah Girl and Denise Richards as She-Devil were good choices and played well in contrast.

“Undercover Brother” had a great sound track especially with the original 70s hits played by the original artists like James Brown with “Say it Loud” and Wild Cherry with “Play that Funky Music (white boy).” If you like the old funk music, then you’ll also be thrilled to see James Brown playing a small part. My youngest sang along with Brown in this movie. I didn’t even know that he knew that music. His friend Denzel must play that over at his house. Denzel loves music, and he sings country songs around here. I have to smile when I hear the boys cross over on the music, because it is interesting when the stereotypes don’t hold water. That’s what this movie really says: “Aren’t we all funny when we get ideas in our head that may or may not be true.” If you can laugh at yourself and with others, then this movie really is a riot.