Malibu’s Most Wanted (2003)

• Year: 2003
• Released: 18 Apr 2003
• Country: United States
• Adwords: 3 nominations
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0328099/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/malibus_most_wanted
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/malibus-most-wanted
• Available in: 720p, 1080p, 720p
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: PG-13
• Genre: Comedy, Crime
• Runtime: 86 min
• Writer: Fax Bahr, Adam Small, Jamie Kennedy
• Director: John Whitesell
• Cast: Jamie Kennedy, Ryan O’Neal, Blair Underwood
• Keywords: los angeles, california, street gang,

	5.2/10
	43/100
	31% – Critics
	54% – Audience

Malibu’s Most Wanted Storyline

Brad Gluckman (Kennedy) is a wannabe rap star from Malibu who acts and talks like he’s from the “‘hood.” Concerned that his son is going to embarrass him during his campaign to become the governor of California, Brad’s wealthy father and his campaign manager (Underwood), hire two trained actors (Diggs and Anderson) to disguise themselves as “real life gangstaz”, and kidnap his son, dropping him off in the “real hood” in Compton, in an effort to scare the ghettofied attitude and behavior out of him.

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Malibu’s Most Wanted Movie Reviews

How so easy to ruin a good comedy ….

… Yeah! But this one’s a sure success! Treating a subject like this ain’t no easy feat IMHO.

A little bit of mistake and the whole thing could be turned into one of those spoiled movies that don’t even sound funny.

Good one here indeed hence the 10 stars I’d give it even though it ain’t win no Oscars or nothing of ’em nice awards.

(Hey, I sure am sounding a l’le ethnic in here ain’t I?) 🙂

This movie is a fine example of those getting into a ‘mixed up’ society. A place where people of various ethnicities and racial or social groups do live together and mingle too but they never add up or properly get together. Mixed identities, alienated souls, badly mistaken (if not dirty) politics, and so forth …

idea is fine but execution is not all there

Brad ‘B-Rad’ Gluckman (Jamie Kennedy) and his crew are gangster wannabes from the hood of Malibu, California. His father Bill (Ryan O’Neal) is running for governor. Bess (Bo Derek) is his mother. He wants to join the political campaign but the political team hates the idea and he keeps screwing up. Tom Gibbsons (Blair Underwood) and his team come up with an idea to scare Brad straight by having amateur actors Sean James (Taye Diggs) and PJ (Anthony Anderson) kidnap him. The two white-bread actors recruit PJ’s cousin Shondra (Regina Hall).

This is a perfectly fine idea for spoof. I really like Anthony Anderson and Taye Diggs isn’t that bad. They’re almost funny trying to act black. The drawback is Jamie Kennedy. He’s trying too hard to spoof the idea. It would work better if he committed to be serious. He seems to be doing it with a wink and a smile. It actually takes away from the comedic potential. He should be clueless, not act clueless.

Another Jamie Kennedy Movie

Brad Gluckman (Jamie Kennedy) is white, but grew up listening to Run-DMC and Public Enemy. He thinks that the hood is just an image, and he protects the streets of Malibu. When his father is running for office, Brad must be taken out of the picture, so a group of actors is hired to take him to the ghetto and scare him. Things, of course, go bad when real gang members show up.

I was asked to watch this film after making positive remarks about “Kickin It Old Skool” (see that review). The person who asked me felt I was too kind to that film and that this one (“Malibu’s Most Wanted”) was the superior film. So I watched it. And I have to say, this movie really was not nearly as good. It is funny but not that funny.

What plagues this film for me is the idea of mocking black urban culture. I do not happen to really identify with black culture or the films associated with it. “Friday” and “Boyz in the Hood” may be good movies, but I just cannot really get into them like other people can. This film is a cross between those movies and Jamie Kennedy being white and acting black — poorly. His talking, rapping and other actions just got on my nerves. They were funny at first but got old fast. The black actors trying to act black (Anthony Anderson and Taye Diggs) were funny, though… maybe it takes blacks to satire black culture (like “Don’t be a Menace”, which is very funny).

There were many cameos, but again primarily from those films I do not really enjoy. Christa Campbell appeared as an angry feminist, which is particularly funny if you are aware of her history as a model, Playboy playmate and regular guest star in a variety of horror films (often topless). She is anything but a feminist in the traditional sense.

So, yeah, I liked this movie and enjoyed watching it. But unless you enjoy seeing white kids rapping poorly or Snoop Dogg doing the voice of a ghetto rat (very briefly) this film is forgettable and not worth owning or even a second viewing. Good, but nothing special.