"On June 21, everybody runs!"
That is the tagline for Minority Report, the brilliant sci-fi thriller hitting screens this weekend. Coincidentally, that should also be the tagline for the mediocrity that is Juwanna Mann.
"On June 21, everybody runs ... from this movie!"
Sheesh! I can't remember the last time I felt such little inspiration to write about a movie as I do about the new comedy, Juwanna Mann. How many different ways can you say that a movie is tired, unfunny, uninspired?
OK, if you are really, REALLY interested in seeing this movie about Jamal Jeffries, a bad-boy professional basketball player (Miguel Nunez Jr.) who has to masquerade as a professional woman's player after he is suspended from his pro league, please wait until this movie hits video stores, cable TV, or someone less fortunate than you who has seen the film can act out the story using sock puppets. It's just not worth your time, your effort, and (most important) your money.
Juwanna Mann feels like it was a movie that was made with the soundtrack in mind. It tries hard to be a hip update of Some Like It Hot or Tootsie. Sadly, it just comes across as a retread with a beat. The farce is never elevated to a level where the audience is able to suspend its disbelief into accepting that what is happening on screen is really happening. And note that neither the NBA nor the WNBA would lend their team names or colors to this production, leading to the overall shoddy quality of the film.
No big surprises here. Of course, Jamal as Juwanna falls in love with one of his female teammates. Of course, his secret is discovered during "the big game." And, of course, the movie dramatizes none of the real ramifications if such a scam was really pulled.
To the actors' credit, they make a game of it and make the whole thing watchable. Nunez is an actor who has been floating around Hollywood for years, appearing in everything from TV's Tour of Duty to Harlem Nights to the current Scooby-Doo. While he has his moments, he deserved a better star vehicle (although he is about as believable a woman as John Ritter was whenever he would dress up as a female on Three's Company to win a cooking contest, or go out on a double date with Chrissy, or whatever). Vivica A. Fox is Jamal's love interest, Michelle Langford, and she is always easy on the eyes. Meanwhile, two former In Living Color players Kim Wayans and Tommy Davidson get most of the film's laughs as lesbian ballplayer Latisha Jansen and hip-hop parody Puff Smokey Smoke. Wayans and Davidson must have ad-libbed half their scenes.
To put it in basketball terms, a clever and legitimately funny movie like Undercover Brother is a slam dunk. A tired and unfunny film like Juwanna Mann is the proverbial airball at the buzzer.
Juwanna Mann is rated PG-13 for language and sex-related material.
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