'3BlackChicks Review...'
WHIPPED (1999) Rated R; running time 85 minutes Genre: Comedy IMDB site: http://us.imdb.com/Details?0174336 Official site: http://www.whipped.com/ Written by: Peter M. Cohen Directed by: Peter M. Cohen Cast: Amanda Peet, Brian Van Holt, Zorie Barber, Jonathan Abrahams, Judah Domke, Callie Thorne
Review Copyright Rose Cooper, 2000 Review URL: http://www.3blackchicks.com/bamswhipped.html
It's been a long while since I've actively looked forward to seeing _all_ of the new releases scheduled to come out here in Podunkville; for vastly different reasons, I eagerly anticipated seeing HIGHLANDER: ENDGAME, SAVING GRACE, and this movie, WHIPPED - a triple-play rarity for me. Now that I've seen two out of three ("Endgame" is next-up for me this afternoon), the question is, was my eager anticipation rewarded?
Hmmm...
The Story (WARNING: **spoilers contained below**): Brad (Brian Van Holt), Zeke (Zorie Barber), and Jonathan (Jonathan Abrahams), are three Wild And Crazy guys who get together for weekly Sunday brunches, along with their married (and thus, no longer Wild nor Crazy), completely whipped friend, Eric (Judah Domke), to compare notes on their female conquests over the past week. All's well in their individual worlds - Studly Stockbroker Brad, Horndog Beatnik Zeke, and Sensitive Onanistic Jonathan imagine themselves quite the ladies men, and have the raunchy stories to prove it - until they each find a woman who Completes them; someone who is more than their match. Who knew Mia (Amanda Peet) would be the perfect fit for each of them?
The Upshot: Those who know my taste in movies, will probably be surprised to find out I liked WHIPPED. And will probably be even more surprised to find out *why*. See, I ain't as bougie as summa y'all might think. Occasionally, I like to slum, too [/end sarcasm].
Contrary to some folks' perceptions, I can enjoy a raucous film every now and then. I can groove on comedies in which the humor is derived from base situations (the basest of which, some might say, is Gettin' Some) - as long as the premise, or the characters, don't insult my intelligence. And for me, WHIPPED fit that bill nicely.
There's nothing very Deep about it; no real Lessons to be learned, no Truth that would forever alter the viewer (unless said viewer was one of those types who like to think he or she is God's Gift. And even then, I'm sure said viewer wouldn't see themselves in the on-screen characters). And the Moral at the end - that the way (some) men troll for chicks is muy lame - is likewise nothing new. But what I enjoyed most about WHIPPED was how it avoided the patronizingly typical way most flicks of this nature try to depict the boy likes girl likes other boy likes same girl likes other boy likes same girl and all of the boys are friends-setup: [SMALL SPOILER] early on, we are shown that not only do all the participants in this menage a quad *know* about each others' involvement, they _accept_ it (some less willingly than others) [END SMALL SPOILER]. And with that first "twist", I leaned back in my chair and relaxed, knowing that no matter what else happened, I wasn't about to see the same ol' same ol' vapid flick as has been repeated ad nauseum so often in the past.
The "feel" of the film was quite appealing to me. Multiple elements - from the nicely-done opening credits, to the "weekly" titles (I admit, I'm a sucker for inside-joke titles), and even the overdone-on-TV breaking of the fourth wall (where the characters talk directly to the camera as if they were being interviewed) - took this movie to a different place for me than its subject matter would suggest it belonged. And indeed, the feel of the movie helped it overcome some glaring flaws that might have otherwise been deal-breakers for me, including the incredibly immature way the male characters (especially Brad) spoke, as if the actors (or writer) thought they were in a high school flick, and the fact that at least two of the characters (Zeke and Jonathan) were anything but the God's Gift To Women that they thought themselves to be. In fact, I'd be shocked to find that New York women were *really* that hard up; those two guys were by no means All That (nor were they A Bag Of Chips). Not that Brad was any catch, but hey, I wouldn't kick him out of bed. Um...the point being, my Disbelief had a hard time saying Suspended when it came to taking this motley trio at face value as being Playas.
That, and the potty mouths that these guys all had aside, WHIPPED moved along at a good pace, though I was disappointed that Amanda Peet didn't have a much bigger speaking part than she wound up having. I looked forward to seeing this flick specifically because of her; I enjoyed her immensely in THE WHOLE NINE YARDS and looked forward to seeing her in WHIPPED - and would've walked away completely disappointed if it hadn't been for her ending scenes. Even with that, her Mia was more a concept, than a fully-developed character.
The trio of bachelors, and the Obligatory Married Guy Friend against which the trio measured themselves, were the true stars of this show. Strangely enough, the ObMarriedGuy was the most easily accepted of the four Types (you know: the Studly Wallstreet Type, the Horny Beatnik Type, the Sensitive Self-loving Type, and the Cockblocked Emasculated Husband Type); unfortunately, I could believe there are many Erics in this world, much easier than I could see a Brad, a Jonathan, or especially a Zeke. My sympathies for the characters fell right in line with whom Mia might've picked: I thought Brad was way too full of himself, Zeke was just too tiny (in more ways than one) to even consider, Eric needed to be put out of his - and no doubt, his wife's - misery, and Jonathan was as pathetic as he was harmless. In this, actors Van Holt, Barber, Domke, and Abrahams (respectively), performed their jobs quite well.
And the biggest kick of all, for me? Seeing Callie "gag" Thorne [who, along with Jon "spit" Seda and Micheal "retch" Michele, put the last nail into the coffin that once was TBDSOT, NBC's HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREET] play the kind of inconsequential sleazy slut for which her acting abilities were obviously hoed...oops, I mean, honed. Talk about your perfect casting...
Having been married for nearly twenty years, I'm glad to say that I don't recognize *any* of these types from those in my everyday life, though I knew my fair share back in my college days. That's the great thing about The Movies, though: in them, even a city with residents as jaded as those occupying New York, can have people so willing to believe what they'd normally know to be unbelievable, if they'd only look closer at what was being offered to them.
The "Black Factor" [ObDisclaimer: We Are Not A Monolith]: Often, when I watch a "White" movie [one of these days, we'll have to Discuss what constitutes a "White", or a "Black", movie. But that's another topic for another time], I wonder to myself, "Self, could you imagine this as a 'Black' movie?" And in the case of WHIPPED, the answer was easily, "yes".
If the creative folks behind it had chosen to Go There, WHIPPED could've easily been Booty Call or The Player's Club or [insert typically misogynistic hit-dat-bootay flick here]. To the extent it was not, WHIPPED earned my admiration; though much of the posturing was there, WHIPPED had the foresight [or so I'd like to think. It might actually be that they stumbled upon this quite accidently] to avoid the cliches inherent in the situations it depicts, and tackle the questions it asked in a somewhat more mature fashion (even though, as I noted above, most of the male characters sounded like refugees from high school).
Now, before anyone [yes, I mean you, "babylove"] gets their panties all in a wad, note that I am NOT saying White "Booty Call" flicks are better than Black "Booty Call" flicks by default. What I *am* saying is, in this specific case, the makers of WHIPPED overcame its predecessor's faults by making the _way_ they told the story, much more interesting and much less pathetically, and stereotypically, obvious (though to some degree, just as titillating) in the end. Ka peech?
So, what does this say about *Black* flicks within this genre? Maybe nothing. Or maybe, folks like me could tolerate the "Booty Calls" flicks more if they had some substance behind their empty-calories style. I don't see nuttin' wrong/with a little bumpngrind. But surely We can do better than Yet Another longform BET video, right? Uh, right?
Bammer's Bottom Line: While it's nowhere near gut-bustin' funny, WHIPPED does provide an entertaining, and refreshingly different, look at The Oldest War in the book: the war of the sexes. Take note, fellas: those wack lines y'all use are _transparent_.
WHIPPED (rating: greenlight): The bar is raised, Young Black Hollywood; the gauntlet is thrown. Can y'all take "Booty Call" to the next level? Or is that all you got?
Rose "Bams" Cooper /~\ Webchick and Editor, /','\ 3BlackChicks Review /','`'\ Movie Reviews With Flava! /',',','/`, Copyright Rose Cooper, 2000 `~-._'c / EMAIL: bams@3blackchicks.com `\ ( http://www.3blackchicks.com/ /====\
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