Undercover Brother Review

Undercover Brother
A secret organisation dedicated to eradicating black culture meets its match in superfly secret agent, Undercover Brother

by William Thomas |
Published on
Release Date:

14 Feb 2003

Running Time:

90 minutes

Certificate:

12a

Original Title:

Undercover Brother

Ever since black sheriff Cleavon Little took himself hostage to stave off racist townsfolk in Blazing Saddles, the dichotomy between white and black cultures has been comic gold. And now here comes Undercover Brother, a spoof of, nominally, blaxploitation movies in which a secret organisation dedicated to eradicating black culture meets its match in superfly secret agent, Undercover Brother (Griffin).

Great gags include adroit digs at Friends, Frasier and mayonnaise, aka black man’s Kryptonite — and the super-elastic Griffin is a real find. But the rest of the cast — including Kattan, a Mike Myers with half the fat, none of the laughs — mug shamelessly, while director Lee bludgeons every joke so relentlessly it’s amazing bellylaughs are still there to be had. Despite its obvious debt to Mr. Powers, this isn’t the black Austin. Damn!

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