Starring: Eddie Griffin, Chris Kattan, Denise Richards, Dave Chappelle, Aunjanue Ellis
 

Directed By: Malcolm D. Lee

"Undercover Brother" has such a cheerfully zingy energy that you keep rooting for it even when its jokes turn flatter than a jump shot at a YMCA pickup game. Sending up the blaxploitation films of the 1970s would seem an easy and pointless exercise, but this is a spoof comedy that, for once, has an actual point of view.

The movie posits that African-American self-expression reached its pinnacle in the days when Jesse Jackson was sporting an afro and Richard Roundtree and Pam Grier were kicking some serious on-screen butt. But then, the smoky-voiced narrator intones, disaster struck in the form of Urkel, the unbearably nerdy kid from TV's "Family Matters," and ultimately, the horrific sight of Dennis Rodman in a wedding dress.

Who's to blame for this besmirching of black culture? Why, The Man, of course. This all-purpose blaxploitation villain has been leading a conspiracy "to turn back the clock on race relations," and it's up to the secret B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D. to fight for "Truth, Justice and the Afro-American Way."

Eddie Griffin, whose movie roles have tended toward the pesky and annoying, plays Undercover Brother, a freelance, kung-fu-happy do-gooder who can spin out his '70s Cadillac convertible without spilling his pop and looks like he just stepped out of a Funkadelic concert, foot-tall afro and all. Sistah Girl (Aunjanue Ellis), the B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D.'s top operative, dismisses him as "a 'Soul Train' reject with a Robin Hood complex."

But the B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D. needs Undercover Brother to counteract The Man's latest nefarious plan. Gen. Boutwell (Billy Dee Williams) is a Colin Powell-type figure about to announce his candidacy for president - that is, until Mr. Feather (Chris Kattan), The Man's main man, gets to him.

The general's news conference turns out to be an announcement that he's launching a chain of fried chicken restaurants, much to the horror of the hopeful B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D. gang. Later we learn that if you order an eight-piece "Nappy Meal" from General's Fried Chicken, you get a free 32 oz. malt liquor - a tweaking of Williams' own endorsement past.

With a brainwashing scheme apparently in effect, Undercover Brother is brought into the B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D., led by the requisitely explosive The Chief (Chi McBride), who has a picture of Danny Glover on his wall and dutifully complains, "I'm getting too old for this (stuff)."

Even with a running time of less than 90 minutes, the movie loses steam toward the end as the jokes and music selections get more obvious; the appearance of "Play That Funky Music" invariably indicates a well running dry. No one is going to mistake "Undercover Brother" for high-end cinema.

Yet the movie does primarily what it sets out to do. It's breezily entertaining and culturally specific without resorting to gross-out jokes or cruelty. As Undercover Brother himself would say, "Solid!"

Review: (Mark Caro)

5 stars out of 5