Malibu's Most Wanted

John Whitesell

BY Noel DixPublished Oct 1, 2003

From the director of See Spot Run comes a hip-hop comedy about a white bread rich boy who "acts black" to an annoying degree. Based on a character by star Jamie Kennedy, we are treated to non-stop hip-hop lingo and stereotypes, most of which are dreadfully unfunny. Brad, who calls himself B-Rad, has a powerful father who is running for governor. Rather than risk having his son's rap attitude mess with his chances, a couple of actors are hired to pose as gangsters, carjack B-Rad and take him to the hood in hopes that this will scare the black out of B-Rad. But B-Rad constantly defends his behaviour and risks his neck to prove he's just being himself. The words "hip-hop comedy" alone should be a clue; this is full of gold rims, half-naked bitches and over-the-top misrepresentations. The DVD is light for a double-sided disc and mainly consists of deleted scenes and commentary. The commentary involves six speakers, including director Whitesell, Kennedy, writers and supporting cast; a few too many cooks, recorded in separate sessions, thus losing any potential for chemistry. The deleted scenes aren't very relevant and there's nothing that fell to the cutting room floor that could have saved this mediocre stab at street cred. Plus: theatrical trailer. (Warner)

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