In seeing the commercials for Cedric The Entertainer’s new movie Code Name: The Cleaner, it was obvious that the movie was not going to be anybody’s comedy blockbuster. But no one would have imagined unless they sat through the film that when the credits rolled the funniest moments from their movie experience were in the sneak previews of another movie.
Audiences were on the floor during the trailer for Norbit, the upcoming Eddie Murphy flick. But Code Name: The Cleaner made one of Murphy’s unfunny movie missteps (i.e. Pluto Nash and Bowfinger) feel like comedic masterpieces.
The only possible explanation for Cedric The Entertainer accepting this role was that the check came in the mail before the script and the zeros in the amount box outweighed the zero jokes in the George Gallo and Robert Adetuyi screenplay.
People probably would have preferred cleaning something than fidgeting through this poorly written, choppy, inconsistent and at times downright confusing pseudo comedy.
Instead of capitalizing on the few and far between instances where audiences were able to muster up a chuckle, Director Les Mayfield motions the cast to a dead horse and billy club and yells action.
Even though it was obvious that Cedric was working hard to make the most of what he is working with, there is too much wrong for anything to go right. Despite his efforts the film is not salvageable.
Cedric plays a man who wakes up not knowing who he is or what’s going on and the movie follows him through a series of flashbacks that help his memory unfold. After getting conflicting stories from a wife and a girlfriend, he draws his own conclusions about himself while in the midst of being on the run from people he doesn’t know for reasons as unfamiliar to him as his identity.
There is no chemistry between cast members, especially Jake’s supposed love interests Lucy Liu and Desperate Housewives star Nicolette Sheridan.
There are a few spots of physical comedy that managed to sneak past the funny police (they must have been patrolling the set to make sure that no comedy made it into the movie). But besides that there is just no reason to see Code Name: The Cleaner other than moral support for Cedric.
The movie is a waste of Cedric’s talent and moviegoers time. It serves as another smudge on his box office resume and possibly a nail in the coffin containing his movie career.
Code Name the Cleaner opens in theatres tomorrow with a running time of 84 minutes. The film is rated PG-13.
