Review: White Chicks

Directed by: Keenen Ivory Wayans

Written by: Xavier Cook, Andy McElfresh, Michael Anthony Snowden, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans

Starring: Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans, Jaime King, Frankie Faison, Lochlyn Munro

Rating: [4/5]

Playing up on stereotypes in general rightfully has its negative connotations because of the harm it can cause but when done with just the right amount of ribbing can make for comedy gold. Not everyone can pull it off, but what we get in White Chicks despite all of its flaws hits some of its beats so hard everything else falls away. 

After yet another screw-up, FBI Agents, Kevin (Shawn Wayans) and Marcus (Marlon Wayans) get assigned the simple duty of driving Tiffany (Anne Dudek) and Brittany (Maitland Ward) to the Hamptons as their security detail. When an auto incident causes damage to the girls, who refuse to show themselves afterward, Kevin and Marcus decide to wear prosthetics and stand in as the young women to save their jobs. 

Explaining the premise of this film to someone never fails to elicit a raised eyebrow because of its ridiculousness. One could sit here and pick through the nonsense of what this film wants you to believe where two black men through skin suits and fashion could ever feasibly pull off looking like these two white women. The mere fact of the Wayans standing over six feet tall negates anything believable about them posing as two petite women. However, we just have to run with it as the result makes for some hilarious moments of comedy centered on these men experiencing not only what it feels like to operate the world as women but also having white skin color. 

Similar to what the men in Some Like it Hot and Tootsie find out, existing in this world as women comes with some horrifying truths. From the catcalling to the pervasive sexual harassment all in the name of chivalry, they have to deal with this nonsense and hold out long enough to crack this larger case in the story. They also see the advantages that come with it, especially with them standing in as rich white women and how they can ask and get away with things that would certainly not be the case should they be walking around with their real skin. This screenplay certainly has fun with what white women can get away with doing and saying as opposed to all else making for some real eyebrow-raising moments. 

Moments in this feature, however, do feel incredibly dated in some of the jokes it makes but it certainly peels back a layer of this particular subsect of individuals and how they truly operate. The Wilson sisters and everyone else they hang with in their inner circle put up this image as heavily emphasized in the movie but what they do behind closed doors says plenty. Nothing quite sums this up more than the car scene where these women decide to sing along to a song they really shouldn’t. Such a strange moment to watch, especially now, but it does not hide what people do when no one looks. 

Some of the humor will make you whinge but this film comes full of unapologetically fun moments that truly warm the heart and make you laugh at its continual ridiculousness. When Kevin and Marcus as Brittany and Tiffany spend time with their girlfriends, it offers moments of clarity for Marcus about all of the effort women go through in order to impress and love their man, which he did not pick up on himself. Then you have the rambunctious moments where co-opting Black culture through the lens of white women knocks it out of the park such as the jokes about each other’s mothers or everything that happens in the club scene. Laugh-out-loud moments provide moments of joy as these two men knock out the Hamptons posing as these two divas. 

For all of the fun moments, no one in this film makes more of a lasting impression than Terry Crews. In this movie, he plays a basketball player named Latrell Spencer, who does not hide his particular desire for white women. As he navigates the Hampton scene during the Labor Day festivities, the man looks like a hunter looking for some prey and nearly everything he says is pure gold. He particularly sets his sights on Marcus disguised as Tiffany and the lengths Marcus must go through to fend him off truly shows just how much Latrell truly likes white women. 

Truly a ridiculous film, but one that knows exactly what it seeks to elicit from its audience, White Chicks stands as one of those films where you mention it to someone and they immediately have several of their favorite lines they can quote to you. Once you leave behind any sort of logic, this feature tackles funny moments with its light commentary on gender dynamics allowing for something somewhat meaningful on top of the slapstick comedy fully on display. A film filled with so much fun and allows for a further appreciation of the Wayan brothers and what they can do with the right material.