Underclassman (2005)

Excellent but underrated film

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The movie starts when a rookie young detective (Nick Cannon) is assigned by his chief (Cheech Marin) for a dangerous mission . With help of local officers (Kelli Hu , Ian Gomez) begins the assignment , as he goes undercover at an elite high school where a murder erupts and a student is mysteriously found dead ; besides , cars smuggling and a drug ring are also happening at private college . He investigates suspects , especially another student is considered prime suspect . Meanwhile , he meets a beautiful teacher (Roselyn Sanchez).It's an OK entertainment juvenile with noisy action , thriller , humor , tongue-in-check and results to be quite amusing .It's predictable but with lots of fun and the production values is nice , being produced by famed producers Harvey and Bob Weinstein . Originally set for a US theatrical release in 2004 , then two massive waves of layoffs were sustained at Miramax and Dimension , and the infamous Disney and Miramax split reached it's height . This film thus remained in the Miramax vaults unreleased during this time of uncertainty ; when the divorce was finally completed, numerous films under the Miramax and Dimension label were finally released theatrically . The foul-mouthed Nick Cannon (also producer) imitates to detective Axel Foley , formerly played by Eddie Murphy . Similar plot about undercover cop at high school was previously adapted in films such as ¨Undercover¨(1987 , John Stockwell) and ¨Plain clothes¨ (with Arliss Howard and Seymour Cassel) and taking parts from ¨Beverly Hills cop¨ and other pictures . It's a Nick Cannon (Drumline , Love don't cost a thing) humorous recital , he runs , hits , jumps and plays as an action hero . In addition , a gorgeous Roselyn Sánchez (Basic, Rush hour 2) , an explosive Latin beauty , and known secondaries as veteran Cheech Marin (Grindhouse ,Spy kids) , Kelli Hu (X2 , The Scorpion king) and Ian Gomez (Lost and Chasing Papi) , among others . The motion picture was regularly directed but at least you'll get some laughs . The picture isn't great , but for some , there may be reason to watch it but contains giggles and amusement . Rating : Mediocre but entertaining.

This movie was downright awful. Let me stress the fact that Nick Cannon is nowhere near the word comedy. Heck, not even kids will laugh at his jokes. And I think Cannon tries too hard at imitating the Wayans brothers, he might look like them, but does not even come close to their definition of funny.Another thing that was disturbing was apparently Nick Cannon was the only person who had to be black who could play basketball, while the rest, who were "surprisingly" all white, couldn't even dribble, pass or shoot, and he amazingly single handedly crushed the other team. Awesome!!! I did not see that coming. Furthermore, this movie was so predictable it could be classified as a documentary. The only thing that was both shocking and stunning, was when Cannon missed a dunk while practicing with character Al. Other than that, it was no surprise that Cannon did not commit a single turnover or a single miss during his basketball games. Never in the history of my movie watching career have I seen a cop take a dump during a stakeout... let alone in the bushes. It may be comic to some, but it's the dumbest excuse and the most idiotic idea in letting the robbers get away. Needless to say I was not at all surprised that just as Kelly Hu and her partner were dropping the deuce, the robbers got away.I get the feeling that Siega did not even try to make this film entertaining. This movie is so terrible that I think Siega meant for this movie to suck! Oh.. and don't get me started on the acting... and what kind of private schools let teachers wear tight shirts and belly shirts??? All in all a greatly planned out disaster.

If there is a single most outstanding thing about Hollywood film-making is the insane watchability of even the most wretched projects like UNDERCLASSMAN. If you try to dissect UNDERCLASSMAN then it is an unbearably derivative undercover cop flick which borrows heavily from BEVERLY HILLS COP politics, 21 JUMP STREET appeal and most apparently POINT BREAK's plot. Kathryn Bigelow POINT BREAK is one of the most potent undercover cop flicks in history. Even though it's mot some textbook example that you can derive from. Well, in UNDERCLASSMAN, a huge chunk of the structure and character chemistry was taken from POINT BREAK. The friendship between the young cop and the main suspect, the arrest of some other undercover DEA agent, the red herrings and the analysis of the timeline, it was all transplanted from POINT BREAK. I feel it would it would be right if Miramax paid some royalties to the people who made it.Talented music video director Marcos Siega (Weezer, blink-182) who kicked off with PRETTY PERSUASION, got attached in order to infuse this flick with some life. He failed. So did the screen writing team of Wagner and Goldberg who wrote a great high school romcom THE GIRL NEXT DOOR and seemed capable of refreshing the genre. But even they place very few and far between flourishes in the script.This is film is a failure for all concerned.However, it is insanely watchable. I loathed it, noticed shameless rip-offs, felt ashamed of myself for renting it, but still, I kept watching it, up until the end credits. I must admit that. Siega and the writers made it slick enough to swallow. That is craft I can't deny. And that's about it.

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.