In this spoof of old seventies films, Malcolm D. Lee directs the adaptation of the popular website series starring Eddie Griffith (Double Take) as "Undercover Brother", an afro sporting, jive talking freelance spy who infiltrates crime. A secret organization run by a white person called "The Man" is intent on ruining the career of a decorated African American general (Billy Dee Williams  The Empire Strikes Back) who they've brainwashed into opening a chain of chicken restaurants with the help of the evil Mr. Feather (Chris Kattan  SNL, House on haunted hill). Now the BROTHERHOOD has enlisted undercover brother and he will infiltrate the organization and save the world-- funky!
    I was very hesitant about watching this movie simply because Eddie Griffith is an awful actor and these spoof movies are usually bad, but this doesn't completely go into the trash bin. Eddie Griffith is funny as Undercover brother, a proud and skilled warrior who chucks afro-picks at his enemies. This movie take a lot of the clichés about African Americans and the culture and uses them to their advantage. It doesn't take itself seriously and often takes a cliché and exposes it saying "Look how dumb this is." The organization called The Brotherhood has a hilarious slew of characters including "Smart Brother" (Gary Anthony Williams), a scientist, "Sistah Girl" (Aunjanue Ellis) a really hot covert spy, The hilarious inept chief (Chi McBride  Gone in sixty seconds, Boston Public), Lance (Neil Patrick Harris  Doogie Howser M.D.) a funny intern who usually follows along with the stereotypes, and, my favorite, "Conspiracy brother" (Dave Chappelle  Half Baked) a conspiracy spewing paranoid spy. I loved each of these characters and their sheer personality; everyone acts these roles so well and each are very likeable.
    Chris Kattan is hilarious as Mr. Feather, often giving hilarious facial expressions and personifying "The Man". Eddie Griffith is great as undercover brother often giving these dated expressions and wearing hilarious costumes and outfits. When he attempts to infiltrate the organization and decides to act like a white person it's even funnier because he manages to gain the mannerisms of a stereotypical white man and being tempted by "The Man"'s secret weapon: "White She - devil", a seductive white woman who lures Undercover Brother from his true mission. Denise Richards does what she's supposed to and doesn't stand out, but is still pretty funny and fun to look at. Chi McBride, a very underrated actor, is hilarious as the inept chief who hollers every chance he gets and often is inaccurate in his information. Writers John Ridley, Michael McCullers, and Salanini Patterson give a charming and entertaining story with great comedic actors.

The setback with this movie is that it has so much potential to give their comedy in a more grandeur and precarious extent but never take the risk nor does it go all the way with the jokes. Everything in this movie: all the humor, spoofing, and farce are all padded and safe and most of it is just pure fluff. I would have love to see them take the clichés and stereotypes that they clutch on to and go with it more, making audiences raise eyebrows. It has so much chances but the story goes absolutely nowhere. The prime objective of the story is to stop Mr. Feather and save the general but that's all. "Austin Powers" had a bigger plot with much more humorous characters, but by the last twenty minutes of this, it seems the writers ran out of ideas. Mr. Feather is a funny villain but we don't get enough of him except for the occasional sequence where Kattan tries to salvage his role by showing off his comedic muscles. He's wasted in this film and I saw no reason why to keep him in this. "Austin Powers" gave both Dr. Evil and Austin equal screen time because they're both hilarious characters, so much so that Dr. Evil was actually likeable. Denise Richards can't do comedy, nor can she act if you want to be technical and she's not much of an addition to the movie or the cast.

This is a flawed and mediocre yet entertaining comedy spoof that I enjoyed a lot. Kill an hour and a half and check this out, it's a good one.