Screen Gems has picked up the rights to Sheneneh And Wanda, a comedy about two African-American ladies who start robbing banks. Oh, and the ladies in question will be played, in full-on drag, by Jamie Foxx and Martin Lawrence. Erm...
Both Sheneneh and the cross-eyed Wanda have been knocking about for years – Lawrence came up with Sheneneh on his self-titled TV show, while Foxx played Wanda during his In Living Color days – but nobody had the bright idea of combining the two in an actual, honest-to-goodness movie until June of this year, when the two graced the BET Awards by making a fake trailer for a fake movie, Skank Robbers, which united the duo.
Reaction to the trailer – which actually has a couple of decent lines in it, and is most notable for Foxx’s wild overacting – was overwhelmingly positive. So much so, in fact, that the duo – who have been looking for a movie to work on together for a while, apparently – decided to develop it as a full-blown movie, ignoring the fact that, yet again, this is a movie that could easily have wound up on the CV of the **30 Rock **character, Tracy Jordan.
We’re not surprised about Lawrence’s involvement. The man has combined cross-dressing and terrible movies before, in Big Momma’s House and its sequel. But we have to admit to being hugely disappointed in Foxx. Yes, Jamie, we know you started in comedy. Yes, we know that you don’t get to flex those muscles very much these days, even though you’ve got Valentine’s Day and Due Date coming up. But Good God, man, you have an Oscar – you’re better than this!
Still, we’re prepared to give **Sheneneh And Wanda **a chance. After all, Foxx is a very funny guy, and he’s writing the script (both men are producing). Like we said, there are some decent lines in the trailer, and the production values are excellent. But we also have a feeling that this will be a one-joke movie that struggles to sustain that joke over the course of ninety minutes. We hope we’re wrong.
No director is currently attached, but with Screen Gems fast-tracking the project, expect that to change fairly quickly.
To see the trailer for Skank Robbers that set the Sheneneh And Wanda train in motion, click here{