SCREEN IT! PARENTAL REVIEW: MALIBU'S MOST WANTED

"MALIBU'S MOST WANTED"
(2003) (Jamie Kennedy, Taye Diggs) (PG-13)

Alcohol/ Drugs	Blood/Gore	Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude	Frightening/ Tense Scenes	Guns/ Weapons
Moderate	Minor	*Heavy	Minor	Extreme

Imitative Behavior	Jump Scenes	Music (Scary/Tense)	Music (Inappropriate)	Profanity
Moderate	None	Minor	Moderate	Heavy

Sex/ Nudity	Smoking	Tense Family Scenes	Topics To Talk About	Violence
Heavy	Minor	Minor	Moderate	*Heavy

QUICK TAKE:: Comedy: A political candidate's campaign team decides to have the man's hip-hop son kidnapped by two actors and taken into the 'hood to "scare the black out of him."

PLOT:

Brad Gluckman, a.k.a. B-Rad (JAMIE KENNEDY), is a privileged white kid who lives in Malibu with his parents Bill (RYAN O'NEAL) and Bess (BO DEREK). Like his friends, Hadji (KAL PENN), Mocha (NICK SWARDSON) and Monster (KEILI LEFKOVITZ), B-Rad has seemingly adopted a hip-hop, urban gangster lifestyle. He appears to believe he lives in the 'hood and hopes to become a big rapper.

Since Bill is running for Governor of California, B-Rad's appearance and behavior could be a political liability. Accordingly, his campaign manager, Tom Gibbons (BLAIR UNDERWOOD), comes up with a plan. They'll hire actors Sean (TAYE DIGGS) and PJ (ANTHONY ANDERSON), who previously appeared in a Gluckman campaign ad, have them pose as tough, inner-city gang-bangers, and "scare the black" out of B-Rad.

The actors accept the paid assignment, but know nothing about such behavior. Thus, they research and practice getting the act down pat, including hiring PJ's cousin, Shondra (REGINA HALL), who lives in the 'hood, to help them lure B-Rad into their trap. After carjacking and kidnapping him, however, they soon realize that their mission is going to be tougher than expected, particularly when Shondra's jealous gangster ex-boyfriend, Tec (DAMIEN DANTE WAYANS), shows up and complicates matters.

With only weeks before the election, the desperate actors try to accomplish their task as things progressively get out of control and as B-Rad wonders why everyone can't just accept him the way he is.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?: If they're fans of someone in the cast or goofy, culture clash comedies, they just might.

WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG-13: For sexual humor, language and violence.

CAST AS ROLE MODELS:: JAMIE KENNEDY plays a privileged rich kid whose dress, speech, behavior and attitudes make others think he's "acting black," although he says that's just the way he is. He wants to be a rap artist, but finds himself at the mercy of Sean and PJ's ruse regarding kidnapping him. He uses some profanity.
TAYE DIGGS plays a classically trained actor who agrees to act like an urban thug (complete with slang and threatening with guns) and "kidnap" B-Rad to "scare the black out of him." He uses some profanity.
ANTHONY ANDERSON plays his partner in crime who uses some profanity.
REGINA HALL plays PJ's cousin who lives in the 'hood and is thus picked to help the two actors with their ruse. She goes along with it (for pay) but eventually feels sorry for B-Rad. She also uses some profanity.
RYAN O'NEAL plays B-Rad's white-bread father and aspiring Governor of California who doesn't exactly know what's happening to his son, to whom he's been distant.
BLAIR UNDERWOOD plays his campaign manager who comes up with the idea of how to deal with B-Rad and puts the election ahead of his safety.
DAMIEN DANTE WAYANS plays Shondra's ex-boyfriend, an urban dweller who's mean to various people, threatens some and hits others.
KAL PENN, NICK SWARDSON and KEILI LEFKOVITZ play B-Rad's best friends who come to his defense.; TAYE DIGGS plays a classically trained actor who agrees to act like an urban thug (complete with slang and threatening with guns) and "kidnap" B-Rad to "scare the black out of him." He uses some profanity.
ANTHONY ANDERSON plays his partner in crime who uses some profanity.
REGINA HALL plays PJ's cousin who lives in the 'hood and is thus picked to help the two actors with their ruse. She goes along with it (for pay) but eventually feels sorry for B-Rad. She also uses some profanity.
RYAN O'NEAL plays B-Rad's white-bread father and aspiring Governor of California who doesn't exactly know what's happening to his son, to whom he's been distant.
BLAIR UNDERWOOD plays his campaign manager who comes up with the idea of how to deal with B-Rad and puts the election ahead of his safety.
DAMIEN DANTE WAYANS plays Shondra's ex-boyfriend, an urban dweller who's mean to various people, threatens some and hits others.
KAL PENN, NICK SWARDSON and KEILI LEFKOVITZ play B-Rad's best friends who come to his defense.; ANTHONY ANDERSON plays his partner in crime who uses some profanity.
REGINA HALL plays PJ's cousin who lives in the 'hood and is thus picked to help the two actors with their ruse. She goes along with it (for pay) but eventually feels sorry for B-Rad. She also uses some profanity.
RYAN O'NEAL plays B-Rad's white-bread father and aspiring Governor of California who doesn't exactly know what's happening to his son, to whom he's been distant.
BLAIR UNDERWOOD plays his campaign manager who comes up with the idea of how to deal with B-Rad and puts the election ahead of his safety.
DAMIEN DANTE WAYANS plays Shondra's ex-boyfriend, an urban dweller who's mean to various people, threatens some and hits others.
KAL PENN, NICK SWARDSON and KEILI LEFKOVITZ play B-Rad's best friends who come to his defense.; REGINA HALL plays PJ's cousin who lives in the 'hood and is thus picked to help the two actors with their ruse. She goes along with it (for pay) but eventually feels sorry for B-Rad. She also uses some profanity.
RYAN O'NEAL plays B-Rad's white-bread father and aspiring Governor of California who doesn't exactly know what's happening to his son, to whom he's been distant.
BLAIR UNDERWOOD plays his campaign manager who comes up with the idea of how to deal with B-Rad and puts the election ahead of his safety.
DAMIEN DANTE WAYANS plays Shondra's ex-boyfriend, an urban dweller who's mean to various people, threatens some and hits others.
KAL PENN, NICK SWARDSON and KEILI LEFKOVITZ play B-Rad's best friends who come to his defense.; RYAN O'NEAL plays B-Rad's white-bread father and aspiring Governor of California who doesn't exactly know what's happening to his son, to whom he's been distant.
BLAIR UNDERWOOD plays his campaign manager who comes up with the idea of how to deal with B-Rad and puts the election ahead of his safety.
DAMIEN DANTE WAYANS plays Shondra's ex-boyfriend, an urban dweller who's mean to various people, threatens some and hits others.
KAL PENN, NICK SWARDSON and KEILI LEFKOVITZ play B-Rad's best friends who come to his defense.; BLAIR UNDERWOOD plays his campaign manager who comes up with the idea of how to deal with B-Rad and puts the election ahead of his safety.
DAMIEN DANTE WAYANS plays Shondra's ex-boyfriend, an urban dweller who's mean to various people, threatens some and hits others.
KAL PENN, NICK SWARDSON and KEILI LEFKOVITZ play B-Rad's best friends who come to his defense.; DAMIEN DANTE WAYANS plays Shondra's ex-boyfriend, an urban dweller who's mean to various people, threatens some and hits others.
KAL PENN, NICK SWARDSON and KEILI LEFKOVITZ play B-Rad's best friends who come to his defense.; KAL PENN, NICK SWARDSON and KEILI LEFKOVITZ play B-Rad's best friends who come to his defense.

CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO

HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE

Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit?
Then read OUR TAKE of this film.

(Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below).

OUR WORD TO PARENTS:

The following is a brief summary of the content found in this comedy that's been rated PG-13. Profanity consists of a possible "f" word, while various other expletives and colorful phrases are also uttered. Various instances of sexually related dialogue (using slang) are present, as is some sexual humor (including a camera angle making it appear that a woman is performing oral sex on a guy). Two women are ready to have sex with one guy but are interrupted, some partial nudity (male and female) is present, and various women are seen in revealing attire.

Violence, played mostly for laughs, includes several gun battles along with threatening of others with death (via guns) or physical intimidation (via roughing up). Some punches are also thrown, a house explodes, other property damage occurs, and one character accidentally shoots himself in the foot and is shot with a spear gun (only slightly injuring him).

Various characters have varying degrees of bad attitudes, while kids might want to imitate some of the behavior (slang, attire, etc.) that's on display. Some characters drink and a few miscellaneous ones smoke. Should you still be concerned about the film's appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home, you may want to look more closely at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content.

ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE: We briefly see some "forties" (large bottles of beer) while a comment is made about drugs.
B-Rad drinks wine or champagne.
People carry bottles of beer.
Sean and PJ, in their acting ruse, want B-Rad to go into a convenience store and steal various "forties" and a fifth of liquor. He then goes in and gathers up many bottles, but then pays for them.
Various people drink in a club.
Various people drink at a party, including B-Rad.

BLOOD/GORE: We see a tiny bit of blood on the end of a spear from a spear gun.

DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE: Much of what's listed here and occurs in the movie is played for laughs rather than realism.
Tom (who's black) and others conspire to have some actors carjack and kidnap B-Rad to scare him back into "acting white" and "scare the black out of him." Later, they won't pay the desired ransom to real thugs to release B-Rad and see anything bad happening to him as positive as far the pending election is concerned.
Tec is mean to various people, including Shondra, his ex-girlfriend, whom he calls a "jigger-head." He later kidnaps B-Rad, Sean and PJ and threatens to shoot them.
B-Rad uses the term "nigger" in front of an all-black crowd at a rap-off.
Some viewers might not like the fact that the weapon that Hodges, who's from the Middle East, retrieves from home is a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.

FRIGHTENING SCENES: Scenes listed under "Violence" might be disturbing, tense or suspenseful to some viewers (particularly to those sensitive to gun violence or threats), but they're all played for laughs.
There are some brief clips from a slasher-style horror film (with accompanying music), but all they show is the approaching killer (with knife) and the scared victim.
For those who don't like violence to animals, a joke in the film is that B-Rad imagines a rat coming out, talking to him, and then going into a vent shaft where we hear the sound of a mousetrap getting him.

GUNS/WEAPONS: Handguns/Machine guns/Various knives: Carried and/or used to threaten or shoot at others. See "Violence" for details.
Fake guns/switchblade: Used by Sean and PJ in their ruse and held/pointed in a threatening manner.
B-Rad's friends gather up weapons from their homes, including a spear gun, what looks like a huge elephant gun, and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.
A person shoots a CD with a shotgun as if shooting skeet.

IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR: Phrases: "(I'm the) Shiznit," "What the hell /just happened/is that?" "Down with the bitches and ho's," "Bitch" (said about men), "Freaking-A," "Piss you off," "Screw up," "That really chaps my ass," "Shut up (stupid)," "You can kiss my ass," "Sucker," "Freaking whack," "Don't diss me," "I'll dust your ass," "Hell, yeah," "Phat," "Punk," "Oh, hell no," "Shut the hell up," "None of your damn business," "Black ass," "Jigger-head," "Don't be hatin,'" "Balls" (testicles), "Nigger" (said by both a white and black person), "Sucker," "Punk ass," "My bad," "Get your ass up," "Damn straight," "Who you calling a ho, ho?" "Piss" (urinate) and "Gangster ass."
Readers should note that there are all sorts of slang terms that we didn't understand and/or couldn't hear properly to note.
Kids may want to imitate the hip-hop/urban gangster slang, attire and attitude that B-Rad and others display. They may also want to imitate the fake carjacking, kidnapping or general holding of fake guns on others as if they were real.
Various women wear midriff-revealing tops in the film.
B-Rad's friends get into a "your momma's so ugly" contest.
Various characters have tattoos.

JUMP SCENES: None.

MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE): A tiny bit of such music plays in a horror film within this film, while some playful suspenseful music plays in another scene.

MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE): B-Rad acts out a hip-hop style music video complete with him rapping about wanting to ride a bent over woman (sexual innuendo) but he then jumps on her back like she's a horse. He later does another rap about having a "nice schlong" (penis), while the "s" word is used in a performed rap and a contestant puts down B-Rad by implying he was the product of his mom and some zoo animals mating. B-Rad then raps about whether his rap opponent has corn rows at his crotch like he does on his head.
Other songs had lyrics that we couldn't hear and/or understand, thus offering the possibility of potentially objectionable lyrics being in them.

PROFANITY: At least 1 possible "f" word (along with at least 4 bleeped out ones during the end credits, including 2 starting with "mother"), 4 "s" words, 2 slang terms each for sex ("hitting") and male genitals ("schlong" and "weenie"), 31 asses, 21 damns, 17 hells, 1 crap, 5 uses of "Oh my God," 2 uses each of "G-damn" and "Jesus" and 1 use each of "For Christ's sakes," "For God's sakes" and "Oh God" as exclamations.

SEX/NUDITY: B-Rad acts out a hip-hop style music video, complete with scantily clad women and one bending over and him rapping about wanting to ride her (sexual innuendo) but he then jumps on her back like she's a horse. He later does another rap about having a "nice schlong" (penis) and a contestant puts down B-Rad by implying he was the product of his mom and some zoo animals mating. B-Rad then raps about whether his rap opponent has corn rows at his crotch like he does on his head.
B-Rad states that his dad needs to keep his pimp hand strong (referring to those sorts of constituents).
We see various women in bikinis in a flashback.
We see the cover of B-Rad's CD ("Mali-Bootay") that shows his face among many women's bikini-covered butts (that show varying amounts of skin).
The camera focuses on Shondra's butt in her short and tight-fitting shorts. When she enters a coffee shop, she draws the attention of B-Rad and his friends. B-Rad then comes over, stares at her clothed chest and cleavage, and she then opens her shirt and he stares at her chest (seen from behind her, thus nothing explicit is seen). He then kneels down for a closer look and leans in to kiss her breasts, but we then see that all of that was just a fantasy of his.
B-Rad's friends get into a "your momma's so ugly" contest, with one saying the other's mother's Halloween "trick" was a treat.
PJ tells Shondra to show B-Rad a "little ass" (she doesn't).
A DJ tells Sean and PJ to go off, "play with each other," and then come back in five minutes.
Shondra's ex-boyfriend, Tec, jealously wonders if she's been "getting busy" with anyone else. When he sees that she knows B-Rad, he angrily asks if she's been "hitting this" (having sex with him).
We see part of B-Rad's butt crack as his pants hang down low.
A guy claims he's going to be next to get "some action" with Shondra.
Shondra wears some revealing clothing.
B-Rad tells Shondra that he's never been with a black woman before ("Except on the Internet") and the two briefly kiss. He then quickly climbs on her on the bed (both are clothed), but she pushes him off to the floor and is mad at him (saying she offered him a snack and not the whole kitchen).
A rat in B-Rad's imagination says he has to go see his lady that he describes as a "breeder rat."
Tec wonders if Shondra is "hitting" (having sex with) the white boy (B-Rad).
Two women suggestively dance on either side of B-Rad, making a "sandwich" out of him. They then take him back a hallway to a bedroom where they close the door. We then see the two women lying against him on the bed with one leg each on top of his body (all are clothed) and kissing him. One makes some sort of comment about his crotch and he then says that he tested positive, but then adds that's for "G-A-M-E." They then pull off his sweat pants (he's wearing shorts beneath that), but Shondra then comes in and interrupts them (possibly using some sexual slang, but we didn't understand what she was saying). A large poster on the wall shows a kneeling woman who appears to have just a towel around her lower half as she's mostly turned sideways to the camera. We can see the top part of her butt, as well as hair covering her apparently bare breast.
Shondra is trying to remove B-Rad's shoe by bending over and tugging on it (after he shot himself in the foot), but when Tec enters the room, his point of view makes it look like she's performing oral sex on B-Rad (her head moving near his crotch). She tells Tec that it's not what it looks like, but he says that it's always what it looks like (speaking from experience).

SMOKING: Some miscellaneous characters smoke.

TENSE FAMILY SCENES: We briefly hear and see that B-Rad's parents weren't around much when he was a kid.

TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT: White kids who "act black" by adopting hip-hop and/or urban gangster slang, dress and attitudes.
Accepting people for who they are.

VIOLENCE: Much of what's listed here and occurs in the film is played for laughs rather than realism.
We briefly see a drive-by shooting with a machine gun (we don't see the impact, but do see a body bag being carried out, although we don't know if the two are related).
We see two guys pushing each other in a mock fight in a political TV commercial.
The actors carjack B-Rad at gunpoint, but the whole thing is faked (fake guns, etc.). During that, PJ pushes B-Rad and they later push him down onto a bed with his hands taped behind his back.
B-Rad imagines a convenience store worker punching him in the face.
Various convenience store workers (including a young girl) hold various weapons on B-Rad when they think he might try to rob the place.
Continuing the ruse, Sean pushes B-Rad back against a truck and holds a fake gun on him.
Tec grabs B-Rad by the throat and partially holds him out over a balcony.
A guy thumps B-Rad on the head with a microphone.
Several men throw B-Rad into a trash dumpster.
Tec punches and then kicks a guy for making a comment about Shondra.
Shondra pushes B-Rad off her and onto the floor (when he makes unwelcome advances toward her while both are clothed).
Shondra pushes Sean down into a chair.
B-Rad kicks down a door.
Tec holds a real gun on B-Rad (who doesn't think it's real).
Various gang members do a drive-by shooting, opening fire on Tec, his crew, B-Rad and Sean and PJ, who all duck for cover. Thinking this is just another faked experience, B-Rad then gets up with two machine guns and opens fire on the attackers, riddling their cars with bullets and sending them fleeing (no one is hurt during any of that shooting).
Thinking a gun isn't real, B-Rad ends up shooting himself through the foot (we see a hole in his shoe, but no blood).
Tec holds a real gun on B-Rad, but then Mr. Gluckman blasts through the house's wall with his Hummer. Moments later, another vehicle smashes through another wall and B-Rad's friends emerge and aim their weapons (spear gun, elephant gun and grenade launcher) at Tec and his men who aim their guns back at them.
The elephant gun then accidentally goes off, hitting a person wearing chest armor and knocking her backwards. In turn, she accidentally shots her spear gun that hits B-Rad in the butt and he then accidentally shoots the grenade launcher that sends a missile/grenade into the stove. Everyone flees and the house then explodes.
A person shoots a CD with a shotgun as if shooting skeet.

Reviewed April 15, 2003 / Posted April 18, 2003

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