Just when you think Hollywood has stuffed its terrible movie quota as far as it can go, surprise, it attempts to slip just one more past unassuming audiences.
"The Cookout" is filmmakers' latest attempt to target black audiences by bombarding them with distasteful and offensive jokes about their demographic. The film is stereotypical, disrespectful and in many ways, racist.
The motion-picture industry should be ashamed of itself for even letting this script through its office door.
The story centers around Todd Anderson (Pender), a college basketball star who recently signed a $30 million contract with the New Jersey Nets.
Anderson immediately squanders his income and "moves on up" to a ritzy white neighborhood so narrow-minded and racist, it's a wonder it chooses to allow a black security guard (played by Queen Latifah) to monitor its pretentious front gate.
In order to pay for his new digs, Anderson must quickly sign an endorsement deal. Naturally, the day he must impress a company representative is the same afternoon his entire family gathers for a family cookout.
Queen Latifah, who produced and co-wrote this drivel, is making an obvious attempt at career suicide by writing in a part for herself.
As the bumbling security guard for the swanky subdivision, Latifah is an embarrassment. Remember, this woman is an Oscar-nominated actress. She'll be lucky to work again after this role as a security guard with less integrity than the cop from those Cookie Crisp cereal commercials.
Most of the humor surrounding Latifah and the other actors is rooted in black stereotypes. The material should not only offend blacks, but anyone who watches it.
Take for example the food jokes.
Maybe some families - black, white, or whatever race - prefer to eat certain dishes at family gatherings. Favorites could range from collard greens to cheesy potatoes to pigs in a blanket. But when the word "chitlins" is passed around at least 20 times, the mere concept of food becomes derogatory.
Likewise are the pranks about gold-capped teeth, the "munchies," one character's fatherless babies and the well-to-do white neighbor's yoga practice and pet poodle.
You might muster a few chuckles out of Tim Meadows' character, an aspiring lawyer who failed the bar exam 15 times yet continues to sincerely dish out legal advice. The humor works because it comes from the character's personality, not from stereotypes about his race.
Apart from the racially offensive jokes, the film suffers from terrible acting. In the lead role, Pender looks like a deer caught in studio headlights. As a romantic interest, Eve yields about as much emotion as a two-by-four. Only Ja Rule, as the token bad guy, barely shovels through the foul rubbish he's assigned.
Foolish and hack, this is one "Cookout" where nothing is well-done.
