Keenan Ivory Wayans’ 2004 comedy “White Chicks” was an oddity when it was released, and it’s just as much an oddity now. The plot revolves around a pair of Black, male FBI agents who have to, for contrived reasons, disguise themselves as young, wealthy white women, and the comedy stems entirely from racial and gender juxtapositions the men experience. While there may have been an opportunity to write a penetrating criticism of race and gender, the filmmakers took no opportunities to be even the slightest bit profound. That, at any rate, seemed to be the critical consensus on “White Chicks,” which was widely lambasted and was even declared by many to be one of the worst films of its year.
And yet, and yet … it keeps on drawing people in. As of this writing, “White Chicks” is the highest-rating comedy film on Netflix in the United States. Either the film has a lot more nostalgia power than casual observers understand, or something about the Wayans’ comedy is speaking to a new audience. At the very least, “White Chicks” boasts a fantastic supporting cast, including “Girls 5-Eva” star Busy Phillips, Jessica Cauffiel, Jennifer Carpenter, and the amazing Terry Crews.
Nostalgia may be accounting for more popularity than we assume, however. “White Chicks” came out at a time when “edgy” humor was in vogue and a lot of comedians were attempting to be as shocking as possible with their conceits and gags. Keep in mind that Wayans also put together the first two “Scary Movie” movies, as well as the heist movie “Little Man” about an adult dwarf who poses as an infant to pull off scams. Perhaps in 2024, audiences are in the mood for something deliberately politically incorrect, and “White Chicks” certainly fits the bill.
The plot of White Chicks
The lead characters in “White Chicks” are a pair of FBI agents, Marcus and Kevin Copeland (played by Shawn Wayans and Marlon Wayans). When they foul up a drug deal, they are punished by being assigned a “softball” job of accompanying the rich Wilson sisters, Tiffany and Brittany (Anne Dudek and Matiland Ward), to a high-profile fashion event in the Hamptons. The Wilson sisters are rich enough to be potentially targeted by a local kidnapper, so protection is indeed needed. When their faces are lightly scratched in a car accident, the vain sisters demand to go into hiding.
Taking advantage of their cloister, Kevin and Marcus contact an SFX makeup artist friend of theirs, and he constructs full-face prosthetics that would allow them to pose as the Wilson sisters. The makeup is unnerving and not at all realistic, so we, the audience, will have to suspend our disbelief a little. All the other characters in the film behave as though the ghoulish-looking FBI agents are indistinguishable from the Wilson sisters.
Just like in Billy Wilder’s “Some Like it Hot,” Marcus (as Tiffany) goes on a date with a lascivious older man (Crews) in order to keep their cover, while Kevin, ditching the dress, poses as a wealthy executive in order to charm the beautiful Denise (Rochelle Aytes). Marcus hates charming Terry Crews, partly because of gay panic, but mostly because he’s married.
The plot continues apace when the Copelands discover the wealthy white people have been engaging in embezzlement, and also that rich white women do have meaningful problems they had never considered. By the end of the film, the bad guys are apprehended, everyone’s identities are revealed, and everything turns out well.
What the critics said about White Chicks
The biggest hurdle one might have watching “White Chicks” — apart from the lackluster screenplay — are the masks. While the concept of Shawn and Marlon Wayans playing white women may provide a wacky conceptual thrill, the actual makeup doesn’t ever look natural. It’s lumpy and monstrous, very much like Nicolas Cage’s character in “Longlegs.”
Critics were, as mentioned, very unkind, citing the film’s bad writing and obvious slapstick as detriments. Roger Ebert’s one-and-a-half-star review pointed out that the Wayans family have made a lot of cutting-edge comedies in their day, “but ‘White Chicks’ uses the broad side of the knife.” Ebert also criticised the masks, saying:
“They call in experts who supply them with latex face masks, which fool everybody in the Hamptons but looked to me uncannily like the big faces with the talking lips on Conan O’Brien. […] I suppose they’re supposed to be, I dunno, Paris and Nicky Hilton, but at least the Hiltons look like clones of humans, not exhibits in a third-rate wax museum.”
Ebert notes that the central theme of “White Chicks” is that men learn about the world of women, but womanhood is depicted as little more than shopping and conspicuous consumption.
Drag farces are as old as theater, and there is nothing wrong with a high-profile drag comedy from a major studio, even at this late date. Indeed, drag comedies are one of the best ways to confront gender norms, explore gender identity, and annoy transphobes. It seems, however, that “White Chicks” hasn’t any such lofty ambitions.
But something about it, man. It’s been getting a lot of eyeballs. I’d be interested to know if there is a passionate contingency of “White Chicks” lovers who can speak to its themes and humor intelligently.
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