Malibu's Most Wanted Review:

Running for governor of California wasn't going to be easy for Bill Gluckman (O'Neal) but it didn't help that his son wanted to get involved in his campaign. Coming from the hard streets of Malibu and proclaiming himself as the voice of the youth, the self-christened B-Rad (Kennedy) saw this as an opportunity to help his dad and get his rap music noticed. This didn't go down well with Bill's campaign manager Tom Gibbons (Underwood) however and he decides to shock the ‘white' back into B-Rad by staging his kidnapping by having two actors take him on a tour of South Central LA.

As rap culture becomes integrated into all levels of society, Malibu's Most Wanted tries to be clever by trying to get Rap's newest fan demographic accepted into the mix, the upper class, rich teenager. The problem is that it fails miserably.

What Jamie Kennedy and the writers have tried to do is say that everyone can connect with the lyrics of rap music, whatever the social background but the way they go about this is quite condescending and in parts down right insulting. What could have been a clever parody of the growing trend in rich kids rebelling against their parents by listening to rap music turns into a one-joke movie that misses the point entirely.

Jamie Kennedy does a good job as B-Rad however but the limits of the script never let him develop the true comic potential of the character. In fact he could have been Malibu's answer to Staines's own Ali G but Sacha Baron Cohen's creation is far more politically incorrect and cutting edge for a Hollywood movie. What we are left with is a character who just wants to have his say but doesn't have anything that interesting to talk about.

Kennedy's support does their best with the limited material. The talented Taye Diggs, Regina Hill and Blair Underwood are wasted with only Diggs's character fulfilling any of the comic potential that limited script had. Anthony Anderson isn't as annoying as he can be and Ryan O'Neal does his best with a very limited part.

Malibu's Most Wanted is an extremely average movie that is really a missed opportunity. The film had the chance to poke fun at the upper class, rich white-kid fan base that rap is attracting by highlighting the fact that they have nothing to connect them to this urban music as they have never had to struggle for anything in their sliver spoon fed lives. But as this is a big spending demographic for the music and movie industries, B-Rad is accepted with open arms becoming a hero and even getting himself a “home girl” for a girl friend. While it does preach about the importance of acceptance and promotes interracial relationships, it is a far too sickly sweet Hollywood take on both these important subjects.

Star Rating = * *

DVD EXTRAS

Audio commentary from stars Jamie Kennedy, Anthony Anderson and Regina Hall with members of the crew

10 Additional scenes with optional audio commentary

Jamie Kelwick

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