A Malcolm D. Lee Film
Undercover Brother is basically a tale of Good versus Evil. The Evil -The Man and his Number 1 flunky Mr Feather (Chris Kattan), are trying to turn back the clock on racial relations. The Good are The Brotherhood, an organization with the motto “True, Justice and the Afro American Way”. The main players at the Brotherhood are The Chief (Chi McBride), Sistah Girl (Aunjanue Ellis), Conspiracy Brother (Dave Chappelle), Smart Brother (Gary Anthony Williams) and Lance - The White Intern (Neil Patrick Harris aka Doogie Howser).
When black General Boutwell (Biilly Dee Williams) decides to run for the Presidency of the USA Mr Feather is ordered to “Keep the White House white” and so “Operation Whitewash” begins. However, Feather uses mind altering drugs to make Boutwell open Southern Fried Chicken stores instead. The plan is to lace the chicken with the drugs and control every black man in America. All Afro Americans love their chicken !!
The Brotherhood then recruit Undercover Brother (Eddie Griffin) - “The Robin Hood of the Hood” to help them defeat The Man” However, The Man, not to be out done enlists the help of the White She devil aka Penelope Snow (Denise Richards) to foil the new recruit. The plot fails as Penelope falls for Undercover Brother’s alter ego Anton Jackson instead.
Finally, there is a plot to kidnap James Brown while at the same time trying to get The General to kill Undercover Brother. Once this fails, Feather and Undercover Brother duel to “Beat It” with a happy ending the only possible result.
Undercover Brother is basically a spoof, similar to Austin Powers, but not as funny in my opinion. There’s the 70’s fashions, the afros and the numerous weaves of Sistah Girl and more kung fu moves than you can poke a stick at but the jokes overall are not as clever. However, the film is scattered with humorous lines, with Conspiracy Brother getting most of them. Just hearing his voice was funny enough. Feather is also witty as he tries to suppress the black man inside him trying to get out. The soundtrack is sensational too.
Undercover Brother’s motto is “Solid” and if you are looking for a solid laugh this may not be the film for you. The odd chuckle is certainly guaranteed though. The film is educational as well. I did not realize that Black Americans don’t like mayonnaise. You learn some thing every day !! However, I do love movies with Karaoke and what man could possible resist a cat fight and shower scene rolled into one.
One final note - I remember this film causing a little bit of controversy in America as they enlarged Denise Richards dimensions on the poster advertising this film and poor Denise got most upset seeing her enlarged rear end on a bill board. Oh the pain of it all !!
Undercover Brother (Rated M) is 87 minutes long and the basic plot is that the title character is enlisted by The Brotherhood to foil the plans of The Man and his partner in crime Mr Feather, who’s main ambition is to control the minds of every Black American through “Operation Whitewash”. There is plenty of 70’s fashion and hair styles, kung fu fighting and car chases (golf buggy chases too) and although not as funny as the Austin Powers movies there is a laugh to be had. You gotta love the afro as well ! I love any film with Karaoke in it as well.

THE EXTRAS

Plenty of extras available on this DVD. The extras would take over one hour to watch them all. They include:
? Scene selection (of course)
? Commentary throughout the film by Eddie Griffin.
? Commentary throughout the film by Malcolm D. Lee.
? Deleted scenes (Commentary available). There are 16 deleted scenes to view in total. For most scenes I can see why they were deleted
? An alternative ending with commentary from Malcolm D. Lee. I must admit that I did not listen to any of the commentaries available so can’t comment on their usefulness.
? Welcome to the Brotherhood - The making of Undercover Brother. This is quite a long documentary on the film and provides some interesting information. It told me, for example, that this is only the director’s second film (his first being The Best Man).
? The Outtakes - the stuff ups in other words.
? Animated shorts (a few episodes) - This film was inspired by an Internet Cartoon series where the voice of Undercover Brother is provided by Gary Anthony Williams (He played Smart Brother in the film). What a coincidence hey !!
? “Undercova Funk” Music Video (by Snoop Dogg)
? Theatrical trailers of The Hulk and Johnny English.

CONCLUSION

Undercover Brother is enlisted by The Brotherhood to foil the plans of The Man and his partner in crime Mr Feather, who’s main ambition is to control the minds of every Black American through “Operation Whitewash”.