Weekend: Ho-hum hip-hop comedy

Film

Ho-hum hip-hop comedy

The plot of Malibu's Most Wanted would make an amusing skit. But even four screenwriters can't make it a consistently funny movie.

By PHILIP BOOTH, Times Staff Writer

Taye Diggs and Anthony Anderson, as a pair of classically trained black actors going method in their efforts to masquerade as South Central toughs, turn in several of the funniest, most inspired sequences in Malibu's Most Wanted. Otherwise, this is a dunderheaded culture-collision comedy, directed by John Whitesell (See Spot Run), in a season that already has brought us Bringing Down the House and Head of State.

Sean (Diggs, Basic) studied at Juilliard, while P.J. (Anderson, Cradle 2 the Grave) is a product of Pasadena Community College. The two, for the sake of an unusual acting assignment, don gangsta garb, get fake guns and cram for the job, with the help of a book on hip-hop slang. "Those improv classes really paid off," Sean says at one point, admiring his success in the role.

Too bad the same can't be said for Jamie Kennedy, the movie's star, as a nerdy Jewish rich kid from Malibu caught up in a rap world of his making. Kennedy, the evil ice cream man in Max Keeble's Big Move and the star of TV's The Jamie Kennedy Experiment, developed the character Brad "B-Rad" Gluckman for the small screen.

Not unlike all those Saturday Night Live sketches that faltered on the big screen (It's Pat, anyone?), this one is more effective in small doses. B-Rad, given to wearing baggy, low-hanging clothes and gold chains, spouts off bad freestyle rhymes and says things like "word up," "for real" and "don't be hatin'."

Kennedy's routine, silly and good-natured, quickly wears thin. So does the plot, which somehow required the services of Kennedy and three other screenwriters. B-Rad, a self-described "lyricsologist," is an embarrassment to his father, Bill (Ryan O'Neal), who is running for California governor. Dad will lose the race unless he does something about his wayward son, according to hard-driving campaign manager Tom (Blair Underwood).

Thus, the kid's encounter with Sean and PJ: The pair pretend to carjack B-Rad in an effort to "scare the black" out of him. They don't count on a) their captive turning into the "White Kong," a neighborhood thug hero, or b) P.J.'s cousin Shondra (Regina Hall) falling for the sensitive Richie Rich with the unusual, but authentic, sense of self.

The silly, transparent script offers several other unsurprising turns, including a rap showdown apparently meant as an 8 Mile satire and a feel-good reunion between a neglectful father and his oddball son. Snoop Dogg is funny as the voice of a sarcastic rat during one of the movie's least grating passages.

Malibu's Most Wanted is neither politically incorrect nor clever enough to leave any lasting impressions. For a smarter alternative, revisit Bulworth.

Malibu's Most Wanted

Grade: C

Director: John Whitesell

Cast: Jamie Kennedy, Taye Diggs, Anthony Anderson, Blair Underwood, Regina Hall, Damien Dante Wayans, Ryan O'Neal

Screenplay: Fax Bahr, Adam Small, Jamie Kennedy, Nick Swardson

Rating: PG-13

Running time: 87 min.