Funk Soul Brother

By Cynthia Fuchs, PopMatters. Posted May 31, 2002.

Keep that funk alive.

Between NBA commercials, Snoop videos and the recently increased visibility of Bootsy Collins and George Clinton, the funk seems to be everywhere, including the net, where "Undercover Brother," John Ridley's celebrated animated series, has been holding it down at urbanentertainment.com.

The titular hero wears purple bellbottoms and a large medallion, delights the ladies and works for the B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D., going undercover as "mild-mannered Anton Jackson, harmless enough for white people to trust him," in order to fight The Man.

A suave, stack-heeled superhero, Undercover Brother has fought discrimination in network television (Episode #4: "Going Prime Time"), college basketball corruption (Episode #8: "Sir Dunkalot") and Eminem (Episode #12: "Melts in Your Bleepin' Mouth"). When Anton spots trouble, he transforms into Undercover Brother, peeling off whatever disguise he's wearing, casting off his glasses and popping loose his gigantic Afro. Though he likes to believe the best of people and sincerely wants everyone to get along, he's not afraid to whoop ass when necessary. In Em's case, this meant ripping his head off, literally.

Aggressively clever, the series earned a tight following on the net. It was only a matter of time before its success would cost. And so, here comes "Undercover Brother," the movie, from Imagine Entertainment (Ron Howard and Brian Grazer's company) in collusion with originator Urban Entertainment. In this incarnation -- which is all about entertainment, in case you were wondering -- the hero is played by Eddie Griffin, a fellow brash and self-knowing enough to ward off concerns that (oh my!) the movie is full of stereotypes.

Indeed, as director Malcolm D. Lee recently told BET Tonight's Ed Gordon, this is the point. And what if, asked Gordon, certain viewers -- say, white ones -- don't get all the jokes? Well, that's OK. "The jokes," said Lee, "are for who they're for."

They're also damn funny. Yes, they're watered down for crossover consumption, no matter Gordon's apprehension. But they're simultaneously wide-ranging and specific enough to hit some well-deserving targets. The film begins with a familiar framework, taking up subgeneric conventions already worked over in "Charlie's Angels" and "Austin Powers," including the wink-wink overstatement regarding throwback fashion, music and plot. In this case, the underpinning is '70s blaxploitation, turned inside out and smoothed over. Even his disguises are cute: 80-year-old man, office nerd, all-smiles Jamaican caddy. Still, as written by the series creator and novelist John Ridley and Michael McCullers, the film makes its points.

It opens with a bit of pseudo-doc background, not exactly Undercover Brother's origin story, but a good reason for him to feel committed to the cause. Dennis Rodman, Erkel, Mr. T. You couldn't have picked easier targets, and they do their work. "These seemingly random events," intones a documentary-style voiceover, "were in fact orchestrated by The Man." Enter Undercover Brother, who first appears on screen in his gold '74 Coup de Ville, spinning in accident-avoiding circles so extravagant that even passersby are tripping over themselves and dropping their drinks. But he's smooth as can be, palming the power steering wheel and not even thinking about spilling his orange Big Gulp.

Undercover Brother's a solo act, doing right for the community and earning a slamming reputation to boot. But then he breaks into a bank's computer system in order to erase mortgage payments records for those in need of relief. Doing his good deed, Undercover Brother is espied by members of the underground B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D., who haul him into headquarters (under Roscoe's Barber Shop). Here he meets the crew: the Chief (Chi McBride), Sistah Girl (Anjanue Ellis), Smart Brother (Gary Anthony Williams), Conspiracy Brother (Dave Chappelle, always excellent), and a hapless intern named Lance (Neil Patrick Harris), who performs blackness when called on, and sometimes when he's not ("We're gettin' all racial up in this piece!"). Pledged to squash racism and fight for social justice and the African American way of life, the group convinces Undercover Brother to join them.

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