Although comprised of lowest-common denominator gags, it’s an oddly hard-to-follow affair, with good and bad FBI agents popping up everywhere and the plot only revealing itself in fits and starts.
Code Name: The Cleaner (2007)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:78
Fresh:3
Rotten:75
Average Rating:2.9/10
Consensus: Code Name: The Cleaner is a limp action/comedy flick that alternates between lame, worn-out jokes and cheesy martial arts.
Rated: PG [See Full Rating] for sexual content, crude humor and some violence
Runtime: 84 mins
Genre: Comedies
Theatrical Release:07-12-2007
Synopsis: Cedric the Entertainer (JOHNSON FAMILY VACATION, BARBERSHOP) stars as Jake, a bumbling amnesiac, in the spy-parody caper CODE NAME: THE CLEANER. Waking up next to a dead FBI agent and a briefcase... Cedric the Entertainer (JOHNSON FAMILY VACATION, BARBERSHOP) stars as Jake, a bumbling amnesiac, in the spy-parody caper CODE NAME: THE CLEANER. Waking up next to a dead FBI agent and a briefcase full of money, and with flashbacks to his combat training, Jake suspects he's actually an undercover operative. He comes into contact with numerous characters who add to his confusion: Diane (Nicollette Sheridan), a blond bombshell claiming to be his wife; Gina (Lucy Liu), a feisty waitress who insists she's his girlfriend; and employees of a computer technology company who are adamant that he's a janitor. The film escalates into a race against the clock--while piecing his past together Jake realizes he holds a valuable secret and must thwart a group of dangerous agents who are after him. Fun for the whole family, CODE NAME: THE CLEANER includes some hilarious moments and showcases Cedric's endearing comic appeal as the anti-James Bond. Liu (KILL BILL, CHARLIE'S ANGELS) gets to show off her well-known fighting moves and DeRay Davis (SCHOOL FOR SCOUNDRELS) is a scene stealer as a fast-talking janitor/wannabe-rapper. Although the plot drags a bit, there is plenty of fast-paced action and steamy content thanks to Sheridan and Liu, whose provocative scenes add heavy doses of sex appeal to the film. [More]
Starring: Cedric the Entertainer, Lucy Liu, Nicollette Sheridan, Elizabeth Hurley
Starring: Cedric the Entertainer, Lucy Liu, Nicollette Sheridan, Elizabeth Hurley, Callum Keith Rennie, Mark Dacascos, De Ray Davis, Will Patton
Director: Les Mayfield
Director: Les Mayfield
Producer: Brett Ratner, Jay Stern, Eric C. Rhone, John Cheng
Composer: George S. Clinton
Studio: New Line Cinema
Reviews for Code Name: The Cleaner
too clumsy to be the sophisticated parody of memory-loss films it might have been, too bland for its action sequences to kick any ass, too dumbed-down to make much out of the clashes of race, class and gender at the heart of its fish-out-of-water comedy
The one laugh is in the production notes, where director Les Mayfield claims this is a comic take on the Jason Bourne movies. As if.
Do anything: rob a petrol station, superglue your eyelids together, chew on broken glass, just avoid at all costs.
where the number-one superguy used to solve crazy mix-ups like this in 15 minutes, The Cleaner takes a laboured, exposition-larded hour and a half.
Depressingly laugh-free comedy that's so irredeemably awful that you'll wonder why Martin Lawrence isn't in it.
If you like comedies but hate going to the trouble of actually laughing, then this might just be the movie you've been waiting for.
It's Memento for dummies. But to this movie's credit, I couldn't follow it, either.
The memory of this movie will have left your brain before you walk out of the theater. If you're lucky.
...it's not merely that the script is a sloppy, by-the-numbers action farce; it's more the leaden hand of director Les Mayfield...
Aside from Cedric's admittedly appealing persona -- he's always watchable, even in dreck like this -- there's absolutely nothing to recommend The Cleaner, not the putative comedy nor the action, which kicks in only at the end.
Because of its clever story, funny leading man and two gorgeous supporting actresses, 'Code Name: The Cleaner' is a welcome January surprise.
It's not often that a 90 minute film could lose twenty minutes and still end up with an identical result, but Code Name: The Cleaner does pull that off. If only someone had made [director Les] Mayfield aware of that somewhere along the line.
January is usually not the time to expect much high art among new releases, but this is an especially limp star vehicle.
The Cleaner offers the viewer a dream sequence with Sheridan and Liu fighting in a bubble bath, but in the best Les Mayfield manner, it only lasts for a brief, flickering moment. What isn't over in a moment? The rest of this dud.
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