The movie has a good satirical idea and does some nice things with it, but not enough.
Malibu's Most Wanted (2003)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:5
Fresh:1
Rotten:4
Average Rating:4.3/10
Consensus: There are some laughs, but not enough to sustain the running time.
Runtime: 86 mins
Genre: Comedies
Synopsis: Brad “B-Rad” Gluckman (JAMIE KENNEDY) is Malibu’s most unwanted rapper. He spends his days hangin’ at the Malibrew Coffee Shop with his pimpin’ crew, Mocha (NICK SWARDSON), Monster (KEILI... Brad “B-Rad” Gluckman (JAMIE KENNEDY) is Malibu’s most unwanted rapper. He spends his days hangin’ at the Malibrew Coffee Shop with his pimpin’ crew, Mocha (NICK SWARDSON), Monster (KEILI LEFKOVITZ) and Hadji (KAL PENN), and bustin’ rhymes about his hard-core life up in “the ‘Bu.” Immersed in hip-hop culture, B-Rad spits lyrics about his phat life (“Life’s a beach and then you die / I could tell you stories, make your caterer cry”) – and this beach boy is convinced that his wack rhymes are tighter than Hadji’s cornrows. While B-Rad thinks his lyrical stylings and hip-hop lifestyle are down (“I may be white / but my rhymes is tight”), he’s actually taking his whole family down with him – especially his father, Bill Gluckman (RYAN O’NEAL), who is currently campaigning to be the next governor of California. Bill doesn’t understand his son’s jungle fever and thinks all B-Rad needs is some unusual family therapy – or tough love – to cure him of his gangsta delusions. But when therapy can’t solve the B-Rad public relations problem in time to stop Bill Gluckman’s disastrous slide in the polls, campaign manager Tom Gibbons (BLAIR UNDERWOOD) concocts a scheme to neutralize the problem: they’ll hire out-of-work actors Sean and PJ (TAYE DIGGS and ANTHONY ANDERSON) to play thugs, “kidnap” B-Rad and scare the poseur out of him with a drive-by tour of the real ‘hood. The Gluckmans hope that a dose of urban reality will force their black sheep son to reveal his “true” color, but B-Rad proves to the playa-haters that even under fire in the middle of South Central, this plain white rapper is too legit to quit. In a wild ride from Malibu to Compton and back again, B-Rad keeps it rizz-eal and wins much love from booty-ful business-savvy hottie Shondra (REGINA HALL) along the way. Warner Bros. Pictures presents a Karz Entertainment production starring JAMIE KENNEDY (Scream, The WB’s JKX: The Jamie Kennedy Experiment). Malibu’s Most Wanted also stars TAYE DIGGS (Chicago, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Brown Sugar) as Sean, a Julliard-trained actor who needs a little extra dough to pay his bills; ANTHONY ANDERSON (Barbershop, Kangaroo Jack, Cradle 2 the Grave) as PJ, who poses as a gangster for the cash; BLAIR UNDERWOOD (Full Frontal, Final Breakdown) as Tom Gibbons, an ambitious spin-doctor who heads Bill Gluckman’s gubernatorial campaign; REGINA HALL (The Other Brother, Scary Movie, Scary Movie 2) as Shondra, a business-savvy hottie from South Central who deserves better than her gangbanging ex-boyfriend Tec; DAMIEN DANTE WAYANS (Passing Glory, Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood) as Tec; and RYAN O’NEAL (People I Know, Epoch) as Bill Gluckman, the wealthy Malibu businessman and absentee father who fears his son “B-Rad” will spoil his bid for governor. SNOOP DOGG makes a special appearance as the inspirational Ronnie Rizat, as does BO DEREK (10, The Master of Disguise) as Brad’s mom, Bess Gluckman. Directed by JOHN WHITESELL (Calendar Girl, See Spot Run), Malibu’s Most Wanted is produced by MIKE KARZ (Max Keeble’s Big Move, JKX: The Jamie Kennedy Experiment), FAX BAHR and ADAM SMALL (In Living Color, MADTV and JKX: The Jamie Kennedy Experiment) from a screenplay written by FAX BAHR & ADAM SMALL & JAMIE KENNEDY and NICK SWARDSON. BILL JOHNSON (A Walk to Remember, The Kid) serves as executive producer; the director of photography is MARK IRWIN, C.S.C.-A.S.C.; BILL ELLIOTT is the production designer; the film is edited by CARA SILVERMAN, A.C.E; the co-producers are RUSSELL HOLLANDER and JOSH ETTING; themes by JOHN DEBNEY; the music score is by JOHN VAN TONGEREN with DAMON ELLIOTT. Malibu’s Most Wanted will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, an AOL Time Warner Company. Malibu’s Most Wanted has been rated “PG-13” by the MPAA for “sexual humor, language and violence.” [More]
Starring: Jamie Kennedy, Taye Diggs, Anthony Anderson, Blair Underwood
Starring: Jamie Kennedy, Taye Diggs, Anthony Anderson, Blair Underwood, Ryan O'Neal, Regina Hall, Greg Grunberg, Bo Derek, Damien Dante Wayans
Director: John Whitesell
Director: John Whitesell
Screenwriter: Fax Bahr, Adam Small, Jamie Kennedy, Nick Swardson
Producer: Mike Karz, Fax Bahr, Adam Small
Studio: Warner Bros.
Reviews for Malibu's Most Wanted
When it works, Malibu's Most Wanted ... scores glancingly as a mischievous social satire lampooning spoiled suburban white boys who play at being black, as well as the hyper-macho attitudes and vocabulary of actual gangsta rappers.
Director John Whitesell and Kennedy and a clutch of his co-writers mine this improbable premise for more comic cultural satire than one might expect, but after an hour, or two-thirds of the film, they run out of gas.
What could have been a wily satire on contempo racial politics and culture, Malibu's Most Wanted ultimately implodes, letting down the 'hood, hip-hoppers and Jamie Kennedy fans looking forward to his first major starring role.
By the time B-Rad says 'Don't be hatin' ' for like the seventh time, a good portion of the audience will already be there.
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