Undercover Brother

For the Hardy Boys series, see Undercover Brothers.

Undercover Brother
Directed by	Malcolm D. Lee
Produced by	Brian Grazer
Written by	John Ridley Michael McCullers
Narrated by	J.D. Hall
Starring	Eddie Griffin Chris Kattan Dave Chappelle Denise Richards Aunjanue Ellis Neil Patrick Harris
Music by	Stanley Clarke
Studio	Imagine Entertainment
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	May 31, 2002 (2002-05-31)
Running time	86 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$25 million[citation needed]
Box office	$41,604,473[1]

Undercover Brother is a 2002 American comedy film starring Eddie Griffin and directed by Malcolm D. Lee. The screenplay is by Michael McCullers and co-executive producer John Ridley, who created the original internet animation characters. It spoofs blaxploitation films of the 1970s as well as a number of other films, most notably the James Bond franchise. It also stars former Saturday Night Live cast member Chris Kattan, comedian Dave Chappelle, Aunjanue Ellis, Neil Patrick Harris, Denise Richards, Billy Dee Williams, and features a cameo by James Brown.

Plot

The film begins with a back story of how black culture's popularity within the American public in the 1970s began to decline in the 1980s, when style and originality began to lose appeal in the public eye due to the persistent efforts of "The Man." In the film, the personification of "The Man" (Robert Trumbull) undermines the African-American community as well as the cultures of other minorities, with a SPECTRE-like organization at his disposal. As the freelancing protector of the black community, Undercover Brother (Eddie Griffin) fights this organization's efforts to subdue the spread of black culture.

In addition to the endeavors of Undercover Brother, an organization known as the B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D. battles "The Man" to ensure the continuance of black culture. Sistah Girl (Aunjanue Ellis), a female agent of the B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D., infiltrates a company owned by "The Man" in order to obtain valuable data and relay it back to her superiors, gaining intel that will finally let them stop "The Man". At the same time, Undercover Brother breaks into the building. Before she can upload all of the data back to the B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D. for analysis, Undercover Brother decommissions a computer unit, impeding and ending Sistah Girl's infiltration. Undercover Brother is then discovered and pursued by the company's security team. As he runs through the building, he races past Sistah Girl, who uses a gadget concealed in a briefcase to extend a taut wire to trip the pursuers. After hearing Sistah Girl describe this incident in her explanation of why she had failed the mission, the B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D.'s Chief (Chi McBride), is left in bewilderment.

The Man is infuriated that Gen. Warren Boutwell (Billy Dee Williams), a U.S. Army general based on Colin Powell, is considering running for president. He calls his lackey Mr. Feather (Chris Kattan), who informs him of a mind control drug, which could be used to make Boutwell decline to run for president; instead, Boutwell is compelled to open a fried chicken franchise, effectively eliminating the threat he poses. The B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D. is quick to determine that this sudden change of heart is the work of "The Man". The chief, recalling Sistah Girl's encounter with Undercover Brother, decides that their group will need the lone agent's help.

Sistah Girl goes to Undercover Brother's apartment and takes him to the B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D. headquarters. He is introduced to Conspiracy Brother (Dave Chappelle), Smart Brother (Gary Anthony Williams), The Chief, and Lance (Neil Patrick Harris), who is the only white man in the organization, somehow hired as an intern due to affirmative action (requiring a minority hiring to avoid racism charges). The B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D. convinces Undercover Brother to go undercover in white culture as a new employee at a cigarette company owned by The Man.

Through surveillance, Mr. Feather discovers Undercover Brother's identity as an infiltrator and deploys his secret weapon: White She-Devil (Denise Richards), a.k.a "black man's Kryptonite". Posing as another new employee, she and Undercover Brother meet and start dating. She begins to make him do stereotypical "white" things—eating mayonnaise, buying corduroy clothes, singing karaoke and adopting a silly set of euphemisms.

The Man continues to use his mind control drug, distributed in the General's fried chicken, to undermine black culture, including John Singleton remaking Driving Miss Daisy, Jay-Z covering a Lawrence Welk album and the creation of a sequel to How Stella Got Her Groove Back (entitled "How Stella Got Her White Man Back").

Concerned with Undercover Brother's unusual behavior, Sistah Girl attacks White She-Devil (once calling her "Buffy the black man slayer," a satirical reference to Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and convinces Undercover Brother to return to the fight. They are pursued and cornered by White She-Devil and her henchmen. A huge catfight ensues between White She-Devil and Sistah Girl, which is excitingly watched by Undercover Brother and the henchmen. Afterwards, White She-Devil draws a gun on them. White She-Devil is about to shoot them both, but cuts down the henchmen instead; she's become smitten with Undercover Brother and can't bring herself to harm him.

They all return to the B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D. Smart Brother takes White She-Devil to find out what she knows. While he does, Lance comes in and says that he just saw Roots and wants to abolish all bigotry, much to the chagrin of Conspiracy Brother (who senses a conspiracy). They invite him into the group. The Chief invites White She-Devil in as well. Conspiracy Brother, angry over the inclusion of the White people in the group, threatens to leave and join the Klan, but after a speech from Undercover Brother about equality, Conspiracy Brother decides to stay. The group heads to a major awards gala after they find out that James Brown is The Man's next target. Lance accompanies Brown as a bodyguard, but Mr. Feather gains control of their limousine and kidnaps him. Soon after, the group finds an antidote for the mind control drug. They go to The Man's base, following the signal of a transmitter placed on Brown.

They go undercover as a Jamaican cleaning service to procure Brown and "The Candidate" (a controlled black man that the organization will use to land a crushing blow to black culture). Mr. Feather receives a message from The Man himself stating that he will arrive on the island soon and he wants everything taken care of by the time he gets there. Mr. Feather ready to administer the drug to Brown and present him as a trophy to The Man, who is on his way to the base. Brown starts to sing (his hit "Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud"), forcing Mr. Feather to acknowledge his hidden blackness. Brown takes off his costume to reveal Undercover Brother. The base's security breached, Mr. Feather sends his henchmen after the infiltrators, who discover the Candidate. The Candidate, none other than Boutwell, is called by Mr. Feather who tells him to kill Undercover Brother while he makes his escape.

The henchmen arrive in the command center and fight Sistah Girl and White She-Devil, eventually falling. After wards, Conspiracy Brother notices a button that reads "Atomic Core", which he pronounces core as "coree". Curious, he presses the button, which will cause the building to meltdown in 5 minutes. The group then goes to assist Undercover Brother. Boutwell is about to kill him when they give him the antidote. They move to evacuate him out of the building. While leaving, they encounter three enormous guards, who provoke Lance by calling him a "sissy," to which he reacts by ripping a guard's heart out, ripping the spine out of another, and crushing the head of the leader of the trio. The team reaches the beach at the same moment as the Chief, who arrives with a hovercraft.

Undercover Brother runs to the roof to stop Mr. Feather. They get into a kung-fu fight to the song "Beat It" by (Michael Jackson). Mr. Feather uses knives concealed in his sleeves to cut off a chunk of Undercover Brother’s Afro, kindling Undercover Brother's anger, which he uses to defeat Feather with a finishing move. As he sees The Man's helicopter (turning around upon view of the pandemonium at the base). The Man (shown through a close up view of his hand on his cane) tells the driver to leave Feather, as he has failed him for the last time. Feather jumps on the helicopter's landing gear as a way to escape. Over the ocean, Undercover Brother throws his Afro picks at Feather, impaling him in the buttocks and causing him to lose his grip on the helicopter, as a shark jumps from the water and eats him. The Man escapes in his helicopter, though not before speaking oddly in black slang, saying "Feather went out like a sucker. Punk-ass bitch played himself. Let's bounce, dog!"

Time runs out and the building explodes before Undercover Brother can escape, everyone grieves over his loss before they see him floating down to the beach using his wide open pant leggings as parachutes as he jumped off the edge of the cliff right before the explosion. He and Sistah Girl kiss and, after another speech about equality, board the hovercraft and leave the island. It's explained that thanks to Undercover Brother, the world is at peace, and is still a "funky" place.

Cast

• Eddie Griffin as Undercover Brother/Anton Jackson
• Chris Kattan as Mr. Feather
• Denise Richards as White She-Devil/Penelope Snow
• Aunjanue Ellis as Sistah Girl
• Dave Chappelle as Conspiracy Brother
• Chi McBride as The Chief
• Neil Patrick Harris as Lance the Intern
• Gary Anthony Williams as Smart Brother
• Billy Dee Williams as Gen. Warren Boutwell
• Jack Noseworthy as Mr. Elias
• James Brown as Himself

Filming locations

The R. C. Harris Water Treatment Plant in Toronto served as the headquarters for "The Man".

Critical reception

Reviews of the film were generally favorable, with 77% of reviews being "fresh" according to internet rating site Rotten Tomatoes.^[2] The film, which was certified fresh on the site, received an average rating of 6.6 out of 10, with 96 reviews being positive and 30 negative. On Metacritic, another film rating site, the film received a 69% rating based on 30 reviews.^[3]

Awards

• Black Reel - Best Film Song for "Undercova Brother (We Got the Funk)"

References

1. ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=undercoverbrother.htm
2. ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/undercover_brother/?name_order=asc
3. ^ http://www.metacritic.com/video/titles/undercoverbrother?q=Undercover%20Brother

External links

• Official website
• Undercover Brother at the Internet Movie Database
• Undercover Brother at AllRovi
• Undercover Brother at Box Office Mojo