- Title: Undercover Brother
- IMDb: link
Wayback Wednesday takes us back to 2002 to a film spoofing the blaxploitation movies of the 1970s. Eddie Griffin stars as a “Soul Train reject with a Robin Hood complex” and fashion three decades out of style whose actions earn the attention of The B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D., a secret organization fighting for the Afro-American Way, who enlists the vigilante’s help in proving The Man is behind the sudden change in behavior of presidential candidate turned fried chicken aficionado General Warren Boutwell (Billy Dee Williams).
Full of Austin Powers level silliness, racial gags, and satire, Undercover Brother also stars Aunjanue Ellis as top female agent Sistah Girl, Chi McBride as The Chief, Gary Anthony Williams as Smart Brother, Dave Chappelle as Conspiracy Brother, and Neil Patrick Harris as spy intern Lance, with Chris Kattan as The Man’s main henchman and Denise Richards as White She-Devil who is sent in to corrupt Undercover Brother with her wiles, khakis, karaoke, and mayonnaise.
Not all the jokes land, Kattan is a weak point for me, but enough to do make Undercover Brother a fun jaunt that doesn’t take itself too seriously even if nearly all of the supporting characters are one-note. Screenwriter John Ridley adapted his Internet series of the same name for the film which offers a mix of cheap jokes and racial themes wrapped around a spy story in a film that honors and also parodies the blaxploitation genre. 17 years later, the film would span an universally panned straight-to-video sequel without bringing back any actors from this film or the character’s creator.
Watch the trailer
