I'm going to tell you about the problem with this movie - I understand if you like this film but I got this as a free rental (I work in a BB video store). What can I say - I picked this up with no real knowledge of any of the Waylen brothers (however it's spelt) previous endeavours, but I'm none too impressed. Reading a few postings about this film there seems to be a debate surrounding whether this film is racist/sexist - I would say that it isn't really powerful enough of a film to be either. For a film to be influentially racist or sexist it needs to have some sort of ideological backbone - a point - and this film seems to lack any realistic intellectual or even emotional or moral grounding. An argument is, that this is comedy, and we should just accept the outlandish premise purely for the sake of jest alone. Sadly, it doesn't deliver on that front either in my opinion. So what do we see and learn about the imagined reality of the world within White Chicks? We learn that wealthy American girls are stereotypically air headed and image obsessed. Hands up how many people knew this representation already from better films like Clueless? Also, as members of the FBI, these two realistically would have to be professionals. If someone scratches their nose or lip, the FBI would not really batt too much of an eyelid when really concerned with the task of protecting two wealthy girls from a kidnapper, but in this film, these two blunderers take up an elaborate scheme to cover for this. OK, tis a comedy, but as the film progresses the plot structure vanishes - we have to ask the question? Why are they doing this again? Maybe I'm asking too much from this film, but when I saw the promotional matter for this film, I thought it may have something to say about the relationships between race and gender- instead all it does is re-establish what we already know - that it might be an unusual or even a possibly funny experience for a black man to have to hide out as a rich white woman, and that they may not adjust well. A better film would be about somebody doing this and actually trying to be convincing. Alright - I'm getting tired of ranting - but this film actually has more to say about the portrayal of women - when the two "girls" grimace at having to engage in feminine activities, is that not saying to the male audience "God, isn't it great that we aren't like that." Especially in reference to the display of overt emotion. Rather than the two leads learning about the world they are experiencing, or even trying to understand it, they treat it as an excuse to prove that white girls can't jump. Who is this film made for? It's definitely not women, that's for sure. Ideological analysis aside, the performances are weak, the jokes rubbish and the visuals unconvincing - and the musical score aside from the official pop music soundtrack, is horrifically mickey mouse. I also miss the days of films being written in English - "I'm not just a booty call." Ah, I tell you what, watch the film, and see how many shades of puke you can find concealed within. I found approximately twenty-seven. Ta ta.
Review of White Chicks
