Undercover Brother (2002)

It’s tough to imagine, but there was a time when Black Cinema – so called Blacksploitation movies – was a force to be reckoned with at the box office.

Movies like Coffey, Black Caesar and Superfly were not only huge hits, but serious films – at least more serious than they are taken now when the platform shoes, wild threads and big Afros of the stars are seen more as campy fun than serious style.

Writer John Ridley and director Malcolm Lee managed to combine their obvious love for Blacksploitation cinema with their comically twisted nostalgia for the time when they came up with the idea for Undercover Brother.

The film tells the story of Anton Jackson, a Black spy/superhero who joins forces with The Brotherhood (an all-Black secret service) to stop The Man and his plan for world domination, appropriately called Operation Whitewash.

It’s a silly movie. OK, very silly. But if you are a fan of the films it both honors and lampoons – sometimes in the same sentence – it’s also very, very funny.

Eddie Griffin is terrific as Jackson, whether he’s battling bad buys with his unique kung fu style or going undercover as a wannabe poser trying to fit into The Man’s world. Dave Chappelle is hilarious as the militant Conspiracy Brother and Neil Patrick Harris steals every scene he’s in playing Lance, the White boy trying to pass in The Brotherhood.

Starring Eddie Griffin, Dave Chappelle, Neil Patrick Harris.

IMDB Site.