White Chicks

White Chicks

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans
Produced by
Screenplay by
  • Xavier Cook
  • Andy McElfresh
  • Michael Anthony Snowden
  • Keenen Ivory Wayans
  • Marlon Wayans
  • Shawn Wayans
Story by
  • Keenen Ivory Wayans
  • Marlon Wayans
  • Shawn Wayans
Starring
Music by Teddy Castellucci
Cinematography Steven Bernstein
Edited by
Production
company
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release dates
  • June 23, 2004 (2004-06-23)
Running time
 109 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $37 million[1]
Box office $113.1 million[1]

White Chicks is a 2004 American buddy cop comedy film written, produced and directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans, and also written and produced by Wayans brothers Shawn and Marlon Wayans, who both starred in the lead roles.

Produced by Revolution Studios and distributed by Columbia Pictures, the plot revolves around whiteface drag, as two African American male FBI agents disguise themselves as two white women.

The film was theatrically released in the United States on June 23, 2004. Despite negative critical reviews, the film was a financial success, earning $113.1 million worldwide against a budget of $37 million. The film has since become a cult film.

Plot

The plot begins in a convenience store where two FBI agents and brothers, Kevin Copeland and Marcus Copeland (Shawn Wayans and Marlon Wayans), try to capture members of an organization that sells drugs inside ice cream boxes, posing as Dominican clerks. Unfortunately, the first arrival turns out to be a genuine ice cream delivery, and the actual drug dealers manage to get away. The situation is worsened by the fact that Kevin and Marcus have decided to resolve this bust by themselves.

The FBI supervisor, Elliott Gordon (Frankie Faison), gives the two agents a last chance to remain in the FBI by giving them the duty of protecting the mega-rich billionaire cruise line heiresses Brittany and Tiffany Wilson (Maitland Ward and Anne Dudek), who are arriving in town for a beauty competition, from a kidnapping plot (known as the socialite kidnappings). When the Wilson sisters get minor facial cuts in a car accident, they refuse to leave the hotel. Kevin and Marcus then disguise themselves as the Wilson sisters in order to save their jobs.

At the Hamptons hotel, Kevin and Marcus (as Brittany and Tiffany) meet Brittany and Tiffany's three best friends, Karen (Busy Philipps), Tori (Jessica Cauffiel), and Lisa (Jennifer Carpenter), and their rivals the Vandergeld sisters, Megan (Brittany Daniel) and Heather (Jaime King). They also encounter Karen's love interest, Heath, a broke and jobless actor who happens to be Heather's boyfriend. Kevin shows an interest in the news reporter Denise Porter from New York 1 and makes an attempt to woo her. Things go smoothly at first, but their affair becomes more and more complicated as the two agents must now repeatedly switch between their gender roles. Marcus' wife Gina (Faune Chambers), whose relationship is already troubled, becomes an additional complicating factor as she gets suspicious when she hears a woman's voice in the background during a phone conversation with Marcus. The woman (a sales representative) is actually just trying to help Marcus get dressed, but Gina does not know that and assumes that Marcus is having an affair. Meanwhile, Latrell Spencer (Terry Crews) takes an interest in Marcus, thinking that he is Tiffany and white. A date with Marcus/Tiffany is then sold off to Latrell during a charity dinner, much to his fear and Heather's jealousy. Kevin takes advantage of the situation and asks Denise out on a date, pretending that he is Latrell, as Denise has a history of dating rich men (in which Latrell is). When Marcus/Tiffany goes on his date with Latrell, Kevin steals the keys to his car and house. When Kevin and Denise arrive at Latrell's house, Kevin gets mauled by Latrell's giant dog (A Rottweiler) until he manages to trap the dog. As Kevin and Denise get close, he manages to gain some information relevant to the case of Ted Burton (the suspect they're after). Marcus makes many attempts to repulse Latrell on their date while brushing off his many advances such as eating uncontrollably, chewing off a hangnail on his toe and farting.

At a nightclub, Latrell attempts to drug Marcus in hopes of having sex only to be tricked into taking it himself and ends up in bed with Heath's friend, Russ (Steven Grayhm). Marcus and Kevin beat Heather and Megan in a dance-off hopping to help Karen win Heath only to have Heather drag him off. Karen drinks heavily from the depression and unintentionally slips to Marcus and Kevin that Warren Vangergeld (John Heard) is penniless, and has only recently paid Karen's own father back for loans he has lent him. The next day, the real Brittany and Tiffany see their faces on a magazine, and they realize that two people are impersonating them. Gina and her friend, Shaunice (Drew Sidora), discover Marcus is "cheating" on her with Kevin/Brittany and leaves him in disbelief and hurt. The Wilson sisters go to the hotel their clones were seen at where agents Gomez and Harper (thinking that they are Kevin and Marcus after searching their room through suspicion and finding panties and female masks) undress them only to find out that they're the real Wilson sisters and lose their jobs. This leads to the chief finding out that Marcus and Kevin have been impersonating Brittany and Tiffany. Because of this, the chief fires the both of them. Later on, Kevin and Marcus find out that due to his bankruptcy Mr. Vandergeld, along with Heath as his accomplice, has been behind the socialite kidnappings in order to save himself and his family from poverty.

At the fashion show, Kevin and Marcus replace the Vandergeld sisters on the catwalk which angers them and attempt to humiliate the Wilson clones. Marcus stands up for Karen after she tells Heath she's tired of waiting for him and he callously brushes her off. After the Vandergeld sisters are foiled by the trio and humiliated off the catwalk, the clones are exposed by the real Wilson sisters which activates Warren's plan. He temporarily manages to capture the girls only to be exposed of his bankruptcy and intentions. The duo successfully capture Vandergeld along with Heath and Russ (with the help of Gomez and Harper) before his plan succeeded which gets them their jobs back. Latrell takes a hit from a bullet shot by Mr. Vandergeld to protect Marcus, but he is alarmed and enraged to discover that Marcus is black (though still shocked by it, he's less angered by the fact that Marcus is a male) and leaves the show while escorting the real Wilson sisters. Marcus apologizes to Gina, after realizing that being a female is a hard task (due to his time spent with Karen, Tori, and Lisa) therefore his unappreciation of Gina and paying more attention to his job. Denise falls for Kevin after he saves her from a bullet by Vandergeld when she caught his secret on film. The movie ends with Tori, Lisa, Karen become friends with Kevin and Marcus for real by making a pact to stay together and go shopping.

Cast

Filming locations

Portions of the filming occurred in Chilliwack, British Columbia, including the exterior scenes of the Hamptons.[2][3]

Reception

Critical response

This film received negative reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives it an aggregate rating of only 15% based on 121 reviews, with the site's consensus reading that the film is a "scattershot comedy that's silly and obvious". On Metacritic, the film has a rating of 41 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[4] Film critic Richard Roeper put the film at #1 on his list of the worst films of 2004 amongst claims of unconvincing prosthetics and racism. It was nominated for five Razzies, including Worst Picture, Worst Actress for the Wayans brothers in drag, Worst Director, Worst Screenplay and Worst Screen Couple, but failed to get any of those awards.[5]

Box office

The film grossed $70,831,760 at the U.S. box office and $113,048,997 worldwide, was a box office success.[6] It has become frequent in its broadcast on cable channels, and has since gone on to become a cult classic.

Soundtrack

  1. "Latin Thugs" – Cypress Hill
  2. "Hey Ms. Hilton" – The Penfifteen Club
  3. "Shake It (Like a White Girl)" – Jesse Jaymes (Copeland)
  4. "A Thousand Miles" – Vanessa Carlton
  5. "Realest Niggas" – 50 Cent, Notorious B.I.G.
  6. "White Girls" – Mighty Casey
  7. "Dance City" – Oscar Hernandez
  8. "Trouble" – P!nk
  9. "U Can't Touch This" – MC Hammer
  10. "Dance, Dance, Dance" – The Beach Boys
  11. "Guantanamera" – Jose Fernandez Diaz
  12. "It's My Life" – No Doubt
  13. "(I Got That) Boom Boom" – Britney Spears featuring Ying Yang Twins
  14. "Bounce" (The Bandit Club Remix) – Stock, IC Green
  15. "Get Low" – Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz featuring Ying Yang Twins
  16. "Crazy in Love" – Beyoncé, Jay-Z
  17. "It's Tricky" – Run–D.M.C.
  18. "This Love" – Maroon 5
  19. "No Control" – Blackfire
  20. "I Wanna Know" – Joe
  21. "Tipsy" – J-Kwon
  22. "Satisfaction" – Benny Benassi
  23. "Let's Get It Started" – Black Eyed Peas
  24. "Move Your Feet" – Junior Senior
  25. "I Need Your Love Tonight" – Elvis Presley

Home media

DVD was released in Region 1 in the United States on October 26, 2004, and also Region 2 in the United Kingdom on 28 February 2005, it was distributed by Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment.

Sequel

In 2009, a sequel to the film was announced by Sony.[7] Sony later announced that they had cancelled the film before they could begin filming.[8]

In 2013, Marlon Wayans confirmed an interest in reviving the sequel's production. Marlon has stated: "We're thinking about it, actually seriously talking about doing it. It's the one thing that everybody begs us to do." Wayans went on to recount how an audience in Australia was positively thrilled when he quoted the movie, responding with a "rousing applause." In April 2014, Marlon stated that he wanted to do a sequel to the film titled White Chicks 2.[9]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "White Chicks (2004)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2013-08-19.
  2. ↑ https://royalhotelchilliwack.wordpress.com/2013/10/
  3. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0381707/locations
  4. ↑ "White Chicks". Metacritic. Retrieved May 28, 2015.
  5. ↑ "2004 RAZZIE Nominees & "Winners"". Razzies.com. Retrieved 2013-08-08.
  6. ↑ Box Office Mojo, White Chicks, released June 23, 2004, closed date September 9, 2004
  7. ↑ "'White Chicks 2' Is On The Way". Screenrant.com. Retrieved 2014-05-01.
  8. ↑ ""White Chicks 2" is canceled by Sony Pictures". DVD World Report. Retrieved 2014-05-01.
  9. ↑ Witherspoon, Chris (2014-04-10). "Marlon Wayans talks 'White Chicks 2,' defends Nick Cannon in whiteface controversy". theGrio. Retrieved 2014-05-01.

External links

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