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'Underclassman': Sophomoric cop picture is a bust

By HAP ERSTEIN
Palm Beach Post

Further proof of the demise of Miramax Films arrives with the woefully unoriginal, what-could-they-have-been-thinking, undercover cop picture, Underclassman, starring Nick Cannon (Drumline), who is hardly ready to carry a well-written movie and certainly not equipped to mask the inadequacies of this one.

Miramax Films

'Underclassman'

D+

The verdict: Cliche-riddled undercover cop in high school yarn, with non-star Cannon.tale.

Director: Marcos Siega
Starring: Nick Cannon, Roselyn Sanchez, Shawn Ashmore, Cheech Marin, Kelly Hu
Run time: 95 minutes
Release date: September 2, 2005
Rating: PG-13 for violence, sexual references, drug material and some teen drinking.
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On the web
Official movie site
View the trailer
Trailers require Quicktime

Stop me if you've heard this one: A young, brash, black policeman-in-training is assigned to the bicycle patrol, but eager to become a detective and handle a real case. So when a murder occurs on the campus of a snooty, all-white L.A. prep school, guess who gets assigned to infiltrate the school as a student?

Cannon goes into full Eddie Murphy-Chris Tucker mode, calling attention to his street smarts and the cultural gulf between himself and these snotty teens. Along the way, he uncovers a student drug cartel, finds and quashes a stolen car ring, sleuths out the murderer and attracts a hottie Spanish teacher (Roselyn Sanchez, Rush Hour 2).

Yeah, right.

Underclassman is directed with no particular style or tone by Marcos Siega, making his feature debut. Still, the blame goes more to screenwriters David T. Wayne and Brent Goldberg (Van Wilder), who apparently never met a cliche they did not embrace and adopt.