White Chicks

White Chicks
Ever wondered what Big Momma's House would be like if it was entirely based on offending white people? No? Well, too bad!
Genre: Comedy Crime Directed By: Keenen Ivory Wayans Written By/Screenplay: Xavier Cook Andy McElfresh Michael Anthony Snowden Keenen Ivory Wayans Marlon Wayans Shawn Wayans Starring: Shawn Wayans Marlon Wayans Jaime King Frankie Faison Lochlyn Munro John Heard Photography: Color Distributed By: Columbia Pictures Release Date: June 23, 2004 Runtime: 109 minutes Country: United States

White Chicks is a 2004 American comedy film directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans. It stars Shawn Wayans and Marlon Wayans as two black FBI agents who go undercover using whiteface as women to solve a kidnapping plot. The film was theatrically released in the United States on June 23, 2004, and grossed $113.1 million worldwide against a budget of $37 million.

It received mixed reviews on Metacritic and was nominated for five Razzies. In the years since its release, the film has come to be regarded as a cult classic.

Plot

"Brothers and disgraced FBI agents Marcus (Marlon Wayans) and Kevin Copeland (Shawn Wayans) are forced to escort a pair of socialite sisters to the Hamptons where they will be used as bait for a kidnapper. When the girls catch on to the plan and refuse to go, Marcus and Kevin take matters into their own hands by posing as the sisters." — Synopsis

FBI agent Copeland brothers, Kevin and Marcus Anthony II, try to bust a drug dealer selling their product disguised as ice cream, but they botch it when a genuine ice-cream salesman shows up first. The two agents are offered a reprieve if they chauffeur the Wilson sisters, Brittany and Tiffany, a pair of rich but shallow socialite daughters of Wilson Cruiseliners CEO Andrew Wilson, safely to a weekend-long fashion event in The Hamptons, so they won't become the next victims in a string of high-profile kidnappings. But the Wilson sisters suffer minor facial scars in a car accident and refuse to be seen in public in such imperfect condition. Fearing for their jobs, Kevin scares the girls into staying at a hotel while he and Marcus disguise themselves as them and attend the event.

Kevin, disguised as Brittany, and Marcus, disguised as Tiffany, acquaint themselves with the sisters' three best friends - Lisa Anderson, Karen Googlestein, and Tori Willson - and encounter their rivals: the Vandergeld sisters, Heather and Megan. Unbeknownst to Kevin and Marcus, the sisters are being monitored by their colleagues, Vincent Gomez and Jake Harper, and their boss, Section Chief Elliott Gordon, who are undercover posing as hotel staff. At the hotel, pro-basketball player, Latrell Spencer, who has an assistant named Tony, takes a shine to Marcus/Tiffany, and Kevin takes a shine to New York One News reporter, Denise Porter.

At one of the Vandergelds' annual charity auction parties that night, Latrell wins a dinner date with Marcus/Tiffany, while Kevin pretends to be Latrell to attract Denise, after hearing that she likes rich men. While the real Latrell takes Marcus/Tiffany to the La Bella restaurant, Kevin uses Latrell's car to drive Denise to Latrell's house, where he begins to solicit information about Ted Burton turning the tables on Warren Vandergeld, Heather and Megan's father. With Kevin becoming romantically involved with Denise and Marcus/Tiffany trying to reject Latrell to no avail, their combined antics put them under Gomez and Harper's suspicion.

At a nightclub, the "Wilsons" win a dance-off against the Vandergelds, and a drunken and heartbroken Karen slips to Kevin and Marcus that Warren Vandergeld is penniless and has been taking loans from her father. This makes the Copelands think that Warren is the mastermind behind the kidnappings. But before they can investigate, the real Brittany and Tiffany back at the hotel find out that they're being impersonated. As they arrive in the Hamptons to reveal their "clones", so do Marcus' wife, Gina, and her friend, Shaunice, having assumed that Marcus is cheating on Gina. Gomez and Harper also conclude that the Wilsons are being impersonated by two men and aim to expose them, only to inappropriately strip down the real Brittany and Tiffany in front of Gordon by accident where Tiffany punches Harper in the face. They are subsequently suspended, and a furious Gordon fires Kevin and Marcus after he discovers the truth. Having lost both his job (and possibly his wife), Marcus snaps at Kevin for his renegade ways, always dragging Marcus into trouble.

Later, Kevin and Marcus discover that Warren had funneled large sums of money through his modest charity. Marcus stops Kevin from notifying Gordon, convincing him that they should personally intervene to redeem themselves, and they contact Gomez and Harper to help resolve the case. Under disguise as the Wilson sisters, "they" are chosen to appear in the event's final fashion show, and the Vandergelds are furious that they were kicked off the catwalk by the boss, Aubrey, in favor of the Copelands/Wilsons, but the real Brittany and Tiffany also perform in the event. Karen rejects Heath who callously snubbed her which makes Marcus punch him in the face. During the show, the Vandergeld sisters try to sabotage their "rivals", but end up being humiliated by Karen, Lisa, and Tori, who discover them on the scaffolding above the catwalk.

After the real Brittany and Tiffany unmask Kevin and Marcus as imposters thus causing mass confusion between the foursome and the audience, Warren uses the opportunity to begin the kidnapping. However, Warren incorrectly captures Marcus/Tiffany, and Brittany, which begins a fight between the Copeland brothers and Heath and Russ, a pair of friends Warren hired to get involved with the girls and aid in the kidnappings. Warren soon captures the real sisters and explains his financial troubles to his wife, Elaine, and daughters (who are dismayed to find out they're broke) not knowing that Denise and her cameraman are recording his confession. In the ensuing fight, Kevin is nearly shot trying to protect Denise, Latrell is shot trying to protect Marcus/Tiffany, and Kevin shoots Warren in his shoulder.

The Copeland brothers successfully shoot Warren while Gomez and Harper apprehend Heath and Russ. Afterward, their true identities are revealed to all, and Latrell is dismayed that Marcus isn't actually "white" - though he doesn't seem to mind that Marcus is male. Gordon reinstates the Copeland brothers, Gomez, and Harper. Marcus clears things with Gina, Kevin, and Denise begin a relationship, and Latrell wins over the real Brittany and Tiffany. Tori, Lisa, and Karen admit they liked Brittany and Tiffany a lot more when they were Marcus and Kevin. The five agree to remain friends and go shopping on the next day together.

Bad Qualities

1. It's a racist film: The concept and title alone are incredibly insulting to white people. Even back in 2004, it would have been regarded as incredibly racist if the opposite of this movie's storyline had been done (two white men wearing blackface to pretend to be black women and the film was called Black Chicks), proving what massive hypocrites this movie's creators are.
   • What makes it even worse is that the movie isn't even parodying white people or white women in general, just a pair of specific celebrities (Paris and Nicky Hilton, as stated by Keenen Ivory Wayans in a behind-the-scenes interview), meaning there's no reason for it to have such an offensive title. They could have called it "Rich Chicks", and it would have been both more accurate and less offensive.
2. It's a blatant rip-off of Big Momma's House, which had a similar story of an FBI agent disguising himself as a woman. This movie's only change to the formula is having two main characters instead of one, and having them pose as a different race as well as posing as women.
   • Even the poster design is ripped off from that of Big Momma's House.
3. The story is bizarrely written, most notably the reason why the lead characters have to pretend to be the Wilson Sisters in the first place.
   • Here's a plot hole: Instead of the lead characters disguising themselves as the sisters, they could've just tried to make two white female officers look like the sisters, which would have been much easier and more convincing.
4. Lazy script, with lots of cliched jokes and stereotypes about rich/white people or people in drag that were old even when the movie was released. It even falls back on a ton of cop movie cliches, such as the main characters saving the day after they get suspended from duty.
5. The makeup used on Marcus and Kevin looks extremely poor and uncanny, it makes them look more like aliens in disguise or mannequins come to life rather than actual people.
6. While passable, Marlon and Shawn Wayans are poor in drag.
7. The opening scene where Marcus and Kevin try to bust a drug dealer is pointless and doesn't address anything in the story. It also rips off the opening from Big Momma's House.
8. The ending scene in which Karen, Lisa, and Tory become friends with Marcus and Kevin is kind of generic to some degree because Karen, Lisa, and Tory have barely any development in the film.
9. Unlikeable characters especially the two main characters.
10. Cringeworthy moments especially the dance-off scene.
11. Warren Vandergeld is a very poor and uninteresting "businessman that wants to be wealthy" villain.

Good Qualities

1. Passable acting (except from Marlon and Shawn Wayans in drag).
2. Terry Crews as Latrell Spencer is by far, the best and funniest part of the film. Even people who hate the movie have said that he's the only reason the film is worth of watching. Especially the scene in which he sings "A Thousand Miles" as pointed out below.
3. Some funny scenes and jokes such as Latrell singing 1000 miles, MC Hammer breaking, and the breastmilk powder.
4. The film received a great Latin American Mexican dub.
5. The scene in which Marcus tells Karen to not let Heath date her so she can be her "late-night booty call" is good because it gives a good message to young women.
6. The scene in which Karen, Lisa, and Tori throw the Vandergild Sisters to the stage where they get splashed by the red paint they were intending to throw at Kevin and Marcus is very satisfying given all the horrendous actions of the Vandergeld Sisters throughout the film.
7. It can be considered a "so bad it's good" movie, to the point where it earned a cult following.

Critical Response

Despite being a box office hit, White Chicks received mostly negative reviews and is considered the worst movie of 2004. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 15% based on 123 reviews and an average rating of 3.72/10, with the site's consensus stating that White Chicks is a "scattershot comedy that's silly and obvious." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 41 out of 100 based on 31 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

Box Office

The film grossed $19.7 million in its opening weekend, taking the #2 spot. It finished with $70.8 million at the box office in the United States, and $42 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $113.1 million, against a budget of $37 million. The film was released in the United Kingdom on October 15, 2004, and opened at #2, behind Shark Tale.

Awards

White Chicks was nominated for five Razzies including Worst Picture but it lost to Catwoman, Worst Actress for Marlon and Shawn Wayans in Drag but lost to Halle Berry in Catwoman, Worst Screen Couple for the Wayans brothers, but lost to George W. Bush, Condoleezza Rice or his pet goat in Fahrenheit 9/11 and Worst Director for Keneen Ivory Wayans but lost to Pitof for Catwoman. It was also nominated for Worst Screenplay but also lost to Catwoman.

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