Malibu not wanted

“Malibu’s Most Wanted” focuses on the plight of the white rapper with Jamie Kennedy as the sweet but clueless B- Rad “from the ‘Bu,” otherwise known as Malibu. This movie started off surprisingly amusing, but by the end I was just praying for Kennedy to shut up.

The basic plot is that B- Rad’s father, Bill Gluckman (Ryan O’ Neil), is running for political office and his pushy campaign manager convinces him to send his son to the ghetto to “scare the black out of him.” To do this he gets the help of two white-bread African-American theater professionals, P. J. (Anthony Anderson) and Sean (Taye Diggs).

Diggs and Anderson were the absolute best parts of the movie. Watching them repeat lines like “I’m going to bust a cap in your a-s” until they got the motivation right was extremely amusing.

At one point Sean even yelled at P. J. for taking his idea to get corn rolls for the part. The next day Sean comes in with Jamaican-style dread locks that look hilarious on him. He leaves in a huff when P. J. snickers at him.

I can’t say that Kennedy was as funny as his co-stars. His outdated urban dialect and clothing were interesting at first because besides MTV’s short-lived series “Scratch and Burn,” hypocritic kids like B- Rad have not been mocked nearly enough. His routine got old really fast though.

Kennedy did have his moments. For instance, it was great when he was talking about how hard it was to live in Malibu: the traffic, people getting on his private beach and so on. The annoying aspects of his character did get harder and harder to forgive as the movie progressed.

The “8 Mile” rap battle scene is too long and overdone. In this scene Kennedy tries too hard, and it doesn’t have the comedic elements to justify its length.

Anderson and Diggs are the main reasons to see “Malibu’s Most Wanted.” They are funny and clever while not sinking to the formulaic depths that Kennedy sinks to.

Rating: 3 stars