So, are we overgolded yet?

Actually, I saw this on cable at the time, but my, what a brilliant movie. Significant in that it was the launching pad for Keenan Ivory Wayans' career (and therefore that of several others, Jim Carrey included). Worth the cost of rental alone is a scene with a once-prominent black supremacist "general," whose wife is none other than Eve Plumb (a/k/a Jan Brady)! "How's my beautiful Nubian warrior?" she trills as she brings him his bean pie for lunch ... I won't even go into the Inner City Olympics.

This is really on my top ten comedy list of all time. That being said, KIW has a nice, easy leading man screen presence, and I wonder why he never got mainstream leading man chances. One hates to speculate that there were only so many such opportunities allowed for black actors in the Eighties and Nineties, but the chilling fact is that after this movie, Wayans had precisely three leading roles in cinema, and two of them were in movies for which he wrote the screenplay.

8/10.

Spoof on the blaxplotation films of the 1970s. Starts right off in "Any Ghetto U.S.A." where a young black man has died of O.G. (overabundance of gold chains). His brother Jack (Keenan Ivory Wayans) comes home from the army to find the people who "hooked his brother on gold". With a couple of older black men (all from the 1970s films) they decide to clean up the town.

Now it sounds pretty stupid--but it actually works. There are some real bad jokes but the good ones outnumber those vastly. The whole cast plays it straight with plenty of small roles or cameos from veteran 1970s actors. You don't have to know the old films to enjoy this but it does help a few times. It's really good to see Antonio Fargas back in a film making fun of his 1970s image. John Vernoon (Dean Wormer from "Animal House") is also lots of fun as Mr. Big. And Ja'net DuBois is hysterical as Jack's overprotective mother. And--since this is directed by Keenan Ivory Wayans--most of his family shows up in small roles. Sure it's silly and stupid but also very funny. Turn off your brain and enjoy! By far the best thing the Wayans have ever done.