I'm Gonna Git You Sucka: Wayans Brothers That I Can Stand

Sometimes it's quite sad how much things change in movies and the entertainment industry in only a matter of years. There was once a time when there were only two known Wayans brothers (Keenan and Damon) and the two dominated television sets with the sketch comedy show "In Living Color". The show aside from being referred to as a black SNL jump started the careers of people like David Alan Grier, Damon Wayans, Jim Carrey (always the token white guy), and Jammie Foxx. Sadly nowadays if you want to see the least intelligent or unoriginal comedy's out you need look no further than the current Wayans latest work. Luckily I've been able to avoid most of it but that doesn't mean I stop cringing during the previews and trailers on TV. But before this all began Keenan Ivory Wayans essentially made his own career by starring in, directing and writing a parody of the seventies blaxsploitation films.

In typical blaxsploitation film fashion the movie centers around a local wanna be hero Jack Spade (Kennan Ivory Wayans) who is aiming to take down the only white guy in the film who is controlling all the local crime appropriately called Mr. Big. In order to accomplish his goal Spade enlists the help of Jack Slade (Bernie Casey), Hammer (Issac Hayes), and Slammer (Jim Brown) to help him bring Big down. Do note that everyone of these men has had their own involvement in blaxsploitation either by starring in the films or writing their music in Hayes case.

So let's get one thing out of the way. You do not need to know much about blaxsploitation films to enjoy this movie. Granted there are a number of in jokes but chances are you are already familiar with concept of stopping whitey from ruining black neighborhoods.

Keenan Wayans also understands how to make a successful parody. One thing that these recent attempts to reinvent the parody like Epic Movie, or anything that begins with one word and ends in movie, fail to realize is that simply referencing current movies or movies that haven't even been released yet and stealing the plot from another movie isn't enough. Here the story is very familiar and generic but it's not like the plot is stolen moment for moment from another film. And even if it was it's beyond recognizable.

In addition, the humor is broad but still intelligent rather than a series of poor slapstick gags. Overall this movie never feels like it's relying on one thing. There are a lot of knowing references and jokes about the cast and blaxsploitation movies in general. There are jokes that are so random that you have to at least chuckle because of how creative it is. There are also a number of jokes that are repeated throughout the movie and yet never feel old or tired because they put a new spin on it every time and you're not waiting for the joke to happen. Nowadays apparently just throwing "funny" versions of twenty different movie characters is funny. This movie doesn't do that. Instead you get characters like Kung Fu Joe that parodies entire groups of characters.

From the get go you are well aware that this movie is a farce so you feel free to laugh the entire time and the jokes really aren't made in any movies like this. For instance this might be the only time that I've seen a joke about the number of shots fired by a hero not actually matching the gun's capacity (aka how about twenty shots from a six shooter). The spirit of the film also mimics the blaxsploitation vibe because as a genre it has also been just a little bit ridiculous. It also helps that they got a bunch of people who starred in the films from the seventies.

Oh I also forgot to mention the best thing about the movie. Shawn and Marlon Wayans are nowhere to be seen throughout the entire film. Granted either guy may have had a couple of good moments in various movies and the first two Scary Movies were alright but those were directed by Keenan so I would expect the quality to be higher. The stuff that the Wayans family puts out now is so generic and jokes are so tired that all I can do is groan. Let's also not forget that the movie in question is R-rated which is possibly the best rating for any movie in the genre. A lot of tired PG-13 movies feel so disingenuous, that you feel like they might come up with some funnier bits if they took a risk or two with the material rather than going for the highest grossing movie rating.

All new Wayans hate aside, this movie is by no means the perfect comedy and will have you groaning at it's ridiculousness many a time. But we're not here for depth. We're here because it's one in the morning and you want to see a ridiculous movie with a bunch of frat guys. Ok I may have personalized that one a bit but the movie is still hilarious in the morning.