Undercover Brother: C/D

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Am thinking of seeing it. Is it any good, though?

― William Bloody Swygart (mrswygart), Saturday, 15 February 2003 18:16 (twenty-two years ago)

i saw this on the plane to DC last year. i thought it was an old tvmovie from like 98 or something

― gareth (gareth), Saturday, 15 February 2003 18:17 (twenty-two years ago)

I enjoyed the trailer, if that's any help.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Saturday, 15 February 2003 19:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Its kind of like a Zucker brothers movie. 80% of the jokes don't work but the thing is so loaded with them that the 20% is good enough.

― David Beckhouse (David Beckhouse), Saturday, 15 February 2003 19:52 (twenty-two years ago)

David is OTM. I laughed a lot at it, but I'm a huge fan of Dave Chapelle.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Saturday, 15 February 2003 21:54 (twenty-two years ago)

I hate to admit it but I laughed almost the whole way through. I so want my computer to say "You Got Soul" everytime I get mail.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Saturday, 15 February 2003 21:56 (twenty-two years ago)

the trailer makes it look like a 'hilarious' expose of the curious little differences between black people and white people

― stevem (blueski), Sunday, 16 February 2003 20:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Is it about a Brother who is Undercover, like 'Double-O-Soul', or is it someone Undercover in the guise of a Brother, like 'Soul Man'?

― Al Ewing (Al Ewing), Sunday, 16 February 2003 20:11 (twenty-two years ago)

It's not that great, but Dan's right -- there are some really funny bits and Chapelle is as great as ever.

Actually, it's one of those comedies where there's a hilarious premise that's never actually dealt with. I hope it won't spoil the few funny bits of the movie to say what that premise is, because I want to say something about it -- the premise is that black culture got so good in the late 70s that The Man developed this sinister plot to embarrass black people with like O.J. and Urkel and such.

Which not only makes for a few fucking excellent jokes (the behavior of a Colin Powell type figure ensnared in The Man's plot) but actually gets at something serious and really interesting to me. You see, lots of black people get really embarrassed when other black people do embarrassing shit, because we know that on some level it will reflect on us and be applied to us as a group. This is usually not a hugely-political thing but just a half-funny groany thing. And the thing that interested me most about this movie was that it's one of few things I've ever seen that actually addressed that: some of the funniest bits involve the black main characters watching another black person's behavior on television in this groany head-shaking "oh my God what is that fool doing to us" kind of way.

― nabisco (nabisco), Sunday, 16 February 2003 20:12 (twenty-two years ago)

In fact it was really good of them to cast whatshisface from Boston Public in this, because he's really good at just slumping over a desk looking weary with his jaw hanging down in a "Good Lord these idiots are ruining me" kind of way.

― nabisco (nabisco), Sunday, 16 February 2003 20:14 (twenty-two years ago)

(Ha, compare and contrast: Undercover Brother vs. Bamboozled! The latter is a drama so it says black people participate in exploiting or ridiculing themselves; the latter is a comedy so it jokes that only some sort of conspiracy could be responsible for some of the ridiculous stuff. Plus instead of being serious it's like "Urkel? Urkel, I ask you?")

― nabisco (nabisco), Sunday, 16 February 2003 20:18 (twenty-two years ago)

i thought the premise was fantastic and "conspiracy brother" and a few other gags were also spot on but the spy humor was a bit weak.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Sunday, 16 February 2003 20:59 (twenty-two years ago)

i dont think Urkel was ever shown in the UK sadly - another show we only know about thanks to references in the Simpsons, South Park and beavis & Butthead (see also Gilligan's Island)

what bugged me a bit was the way the trailer seems to treat the 'white people' jokes like a real painful elbow dig in the ribs and a 'huh? HUH?' nudge/wink style but its irrelevant i guess, and nabisco's points make it sound better i.e. sounds like there's a wry sense of awareness at the ridiculousness of the film, self-parodying perhaps

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 17 February 2003 15:53 (twenty-two years ago)

five years pass...

i dont think Urkel was ever shown in the UK sadly

― Abbott, Saturday, 13 September 2008 01:03 (seventeen years ago)

The scene where his new white girlfriend is trying to get him to eat some sandwich overloaded with mayonnaise is the funniest shit ever recorded about food.

― Abbott, Saturday, 13 September 2008 01:04 (seventeen years ago)

I was like, "FINALLY, a movie that understands about MAYONNAISE."

― Abbott, Saturday, 13 September 2008 01:04 (seventeen years ago)

I give the movie 4.5 out of 5 lolstars.

― Abbott, Saturday, 13 September 2008 01:05 (seventeen years ago)

Pretty good, but no "Pootie Tang"

― Some damn thing (Oilyrags), Saturday, 13 September 2008 01:15 (seventeen years ago)

no Joe Dirt either, but yeah well worth a rental

― darraghmac, Saturday, 13 September 2008 03:11 (seventeen years ago)

I've seen this now (£3 on DVD from Morrisons)! It was alright.

― William Bloody Swygart, Saturday, 13 September 2008 10:49 (seventeen years ago)

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