White Chicks Research Papers

Movie Analysis: White Chicks

If you’re a fan of crime and comedy then White Chicks is the perfect film for you! White Chicks was a hit film from 2004 directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans. The top stars in White Chicks include Terry Crews as Latrell Spencer, Marlon Wayans as Marcus Copeland, and Shawn Wayans as Kevin Copeland. The movie begins as the main characters, African-American FBI agents Marcus Copeland and Kevin Copeland spoil a drug bust. In return to spoiling the drug bust the agents are forced to escort caucasian celebrity girls to the Hamptons where they are going to be used as bait for a planned kidnapping. The celebrity girls get wind of the FBI’s plan and refuse to go. After refusing to go, the agents have no other choice but go

undercover as the girls and become the bait.

The entertainment value of White Chicks is one of its strongest values. White Chicks is a film that gets right into the plot from the first scene. The beginning starts as the main characters, FBI agents spoil a drug bust and then quickly get put on the hot seat by their advisors and then sent to due grunt work. Just like the plot is initiated from the first scene, so is the humor. In the opening scene in the movie, the agents are undercover posing as mexican beverage shop owners. As the potential drug bust candidates walk through the door to sell ice cream the agents start playing the maracas and speaking in terrible spanish accents to offset suspicion. Most of the humor comes from when the agents are dressed as people they are not such as shop owners or the girls. Humor can also been seen when the agents were dressed up as the girls and find themselves in dressing rooms with the girls friends and even trying on thongs were they will get wedgied by the girls friends and hurt their crotch. Or even when the agents dress as girls and go on a car ride with more friends and sing “Making my way downtown” even though they do

not know the lyrics. The most hilarious part of the movie for me was when the girls had gotten volunteered to be auctioned off on a date to the winner of the auction. It’s clear to say that the main characters Kevin Copeland and Marcus Copeland have chemistry in the comedic sphere which brings a lot of humor into the film. The film also has a crime theme which will allow for TR sequences such as the first scene where the agents pull their masks off as mexican shop owners and pull out their badges on the ice cream salesmen who they think are drug dealers. TR sequences also can also be found in scenes like the one where Latrell Spencer takes one of the agents dressed as the girls home and tries to get to second base but is interrupted by the pitbull who can clearly sense something is wrong.

White Chicks is a movie that's main focus is in entertainment such as comedy so the intelligence value in this movie lacks. As explained previously, White Chicks is a film that gets right to the point and sticks to the point even though there is a series of curveballs thrown at the agents while they try to pull off their task of arresting the kidnappers such as being hit on by several males at an “all-white party” where the agents break disguise and use their deep voices to scare the males off. Plot twists in the movie can also be seen when the actors have to hold the mold of their disguise by doing things that weren't on the agenda such as going on dates with Latrell Spencer and going shopping with a group of females or even singing songs in the car that they do not know. Some things in the movie that were heavily emphasized and exaggerated were how celebrities act behind the scenes. The girls in the beginning of the movie got into a car crash while being escorted to the Hamptons and got some bruises and then made a fit by calling several people and refusing to go because of the bruises. Or when the girls came to the party even though they were not suppose to show up and almost blow the cover of the agents dressed as the girls. White Chicks does not have a lot of history in the movie due to it being a strong comedy with a pitch of crime in it but it does reflect human nature. Throughout the film, people are generally happy such as the girls singing in the car, people dancing at the all-white party but even with happiness comes downfalls such as when one of the agents breaks promises with his wife due to work issues and has his marriage put on the rocks because he has to work and miss events with his wife.

Even though White Chicks may lack in the intelligence value it thrives in the director’s craft value.

The main focus of the movie is when the agents go undercover and get their cosmetics applied and get completely done head to toe in makeup to make them look like caucasian females. Over half of the movie has the actors in this disguise which is heavily, heavily cosmetic including facial molds to get the actors to look like females. However, even though the actors are in a disguise for over half of the movie, that is not the only time cosmetics were applied. In the beginning of the movie the actors had a mask and fake hair attached to the mask to make them look like mexican shop owners. Cosmetics was a big part of the movies focus however a part the movie also lacked was CGI. CGI was absent during this film. As CGI was absent, pyrotechnics was limited. The only pyrotechnics in the film occurred in the all-white party scene where the gunman fired the gun hitting Latrell Spencer who dove in front of Kevin Copeland who was dressed as a female. The editing and cinematography served the same focus throughout the film, focus on the main part of the scene. The camera shots and cuts throughout the movie almost solely focus on the main parts of the scene. Scenes such as the dance showdown keep the camera focused on the main dancer and not the crowd surrounding the dancer in the club. This can also be seen in the auction seen where the focus of the camera is on the stage instead of the

bidding crowd. Like the camera shots, the editing was to the point as well. The editing would cut to parts with backup actors such as the ones in the dance off but only for a few seconds, the cuts would be quick back to the main focus of the scene.

The overall reason I chose White Chicks is because it has a combination of my two favorite things in a film, comedy and crime. Throughout the movie there is countless events of comedic things, even multiple in one scene. Also the movie carries suspense because it keeps you guessing when the crime will occur and when it will be a spoof. While comedy is definitely the strength of this movie, the movie lacks history and CGI. History and CGI are not a part of this film and for me that is a bummer because history is one of my favorite topics. Other weaknesses of the film include star power. The only notable star in the movie for me is Terry Crews the other actors in the movie I have never even seen before. To wrap this up, would I recommend this movie to you? Only if you have a large range of humor and don’t get annoyed easy.