Underclassman (2005)

I see Nick Cannon shares a story credit on "Underclassman." I guess this means one day in his childhood he must have stayed home from kindergarten and caught "Plain Clothes" on cable. Has no one else noticed the premise (cop goes undercover in a high school to catch a killer) is lifted straight from that movie? At least that movie was fairly clever and got some comic mileage from Arliss Howard trying to pass as a teenager. I hear loose talk of plot points and dialogue lifted from "Point Break" as well.

Are writers and their lawyers too lazy to sue over flagrant plagiarism anymore? Why isn't Peter Benchley's estate trying to horn in on "Into the Blue"? Maybe the whole "Blue Lagoon" vs. "Paradise" outcome years ago was too discouraging, or Dick Lupoff's unfortunate experience of his story "12:01 P.M." being turned into an Oscar-nominated short film on Showtime and yet still apparently miraculously missing the notice of the writers of the curiously similar "Groundhog Day." There was a time you saw remakes acknowledge their sources. Ah, what innocent times those were. We were all so naive then.

Fmovies: I'm really upset at the rating for this movie? Why so low? I didn't really like Nick Canon(SP?) until i saw Wild N Out, and that didn't really do much for me either, but in this movie he is good. The plot is about Canon, being a bike cop and wanting some more respect. He eventually gets an undercover job posing as a student to try to solve a car/drug mystery. Everyone said that he was a horrible actor, has bad comedic timing, but thats not right. I can honestly say that I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. It brought you comedy and action, the two prevalent factors in watchable movies these days. Canon has that kind of comedy where he is trying to be funny, and succeeds.

Nick "Drumline" Cannon does his best to resurrect the Eddie Murphy of "Beverly Hills Cop," albeit with little success, in UNDERCLASSMAN. Cannon plays a cop who goes undercover as a student to probe a car theft ring and the related murder of a student. Unfortunately, Cannon is too lightweight and the plot is completely recycled from the aforementioned BEVERLY HILLS COP. A couple of car chases momentarily enliven things, and Cheech Marin is semi-funny as Cannon's long-suffering boss. But the film, which was held back from release for some time during the infamous Disney-Miramax war, finally arrived in 2005 DOA. For those who liked Cannon in "Drumline," you would be well advised to stay away from this.

Underclassman fmovies. The only audience that may find this pulp palatable would be perhaps 8th graders. All whites are: sloppy, fat, rude, vulgar, crooks, and stupid. People of color are going to: 1) save the world, 2) run the world, 3) help white people not be so lame, 4) help white people be better people, and 5) help white people play basketball. The script must have been written by the same author of the "Midnight Basketball" federal program.

This movie is so horrible that an Ed Wood movie is wonderful by comparison. The continual racist play is topped with additional comments, such as: "chocolate has more flavor than vanilla" - even though the recipe called for vanilla.

Besides the weakness of the script, directing, editing, and acting there is ... oh, there is nothing else. This movie is insulting on all levels and could only appeal to the black ku klux klan - move over "Birth of a Nation" you have a new contender for top racist movie ever made. 1/10 (Because IMDb.com doesn't allow negative scores.)

-Zafoid

I don't usually give praise to many movies - am too critical. However, like a few others viewers who cared to remark, I'm shocked that so many on IMDb gave this flick such a low rating, so I have to retaliate.

The reason I give this props is twofold: (1) I usually hate sophomoric humor and many films directed at a teen audience. However, Cannon's quick-witted, disarming lines made me laugh the whole way through. His dry, comic delivery is underrated and unpredictable, to say the least. As for the racism observations, I'm white, and I think that charge is ridiculous. Sure, there's racial humor, but get a funnybone - it's a joke. can't you laugh at yourself? We whites tend to have a stick up our butts - the characters played off each other. Why react with such sensitivity? The comedy definitely shines.

(2) At least 4-6 of the characters develop to some extent. It's a kind of coming of age story for Cannon who proves not only his professional sense and skills but his interpersonal growth with peers. He's not sensitive to the rejection and pushes through, adapting his behavior until he wins confidence. A lesson for most of us. While it's true that most characters are foils by comparison to Cannon, the lead, the supporting cast are NOT completely flat characters. The Captain, two other police officers and at least two students and one teacher come to put things in new perspective or grow up, in one way or another.

In short, this is not just the mindless fluff other viewers seem to see. Yes, there were clichés, and the script was often predictable, but welcome to 95% of big or small screen writing in America, these days. If you like sardonic wit, humorous ghetto-talk and a bit of silliness with some serious undercurrents, growth and bonding - lessons of friendship - ignore the dissing and take a look for yourself. It made me chuckle for over an hour and made my day.

Police detective Tre Stokes (Nick Cannon) goes undercover at an upper class private school to infiltrate a car-thieving ring and find out who murdered one of the students, but he soon finds that this sort of school environment is very different from the streets of L.A.

The premise is very thin and unoriginal so the strength of the film is entirely up to Nick Cannon. Unfortunately, Nick Cannon doesn't deliver. He tries way too hard to be funny and he only manages to make a couple of jokes work. I think he has some potential but he needs to pick better scripts. Also, he should start off as a supporting actor since he doesn't really have what it takes to be a leading man, in my opinion. The main problem with the film is the script since it's very lame and offensive. Most of the jokes are racist and derivative so there's another problem. Screenwriters David Wagner and Brent Goldberg come up with a bunch of annoying clichés that don't work out. They don't seem to be trying at all which isn't surprising since they are responsible for My Baby's Daddy.

After Nick Cannon, the supporting actors aren't any better and this is clearly a paycheck movie for everyone involved. Shawn Ashmore is okay as Iceman but his performance isn't very good here. Cheech Marin doesn't really do anything special and he ends up being bland. Kelly Hu and Ian Gomez both play detectives and they just look bored throughout the entire film. Roselyn Sanchez is sadly underused in her role.

Director Marcos Siega does an okay job behind the camera. He at least tries to keep things interesting with a few car sequences that should wake up the viewer. Besides for that and a few jokes, the film is a dud. The romance between Cannon and Sanchez is unbelievable and forced. Most of the supporting characters are one dimensional and they are props for Cannon's insults. The film is also pretty offensive with its racial stereotyping and outdated jokes. Underclassman could have been an enjoyable, harmless film even if it isn't original. However, the offensive script kills that opportunity and the movie ends up being below average. In the end, unless you're a big fan of Nick Cannon, skip this film. Rating 4/10