Post by StevePulaski on Aug 21, 2011 17:29:05 GMT -5
The gang in Who's Your Caddy?.
Rating: ★
When pitching the idea for Who's Your Caddy?, the filmmakers most likely said "let's remake Caddyshack, for next to nothing, and do it with an African-American cast." That's all this has to offer. The thing that made the 1980's Caddyshack so funny, so clever, and work well was because it was energized by a cast of comedic talent like Chevy Chase and Rodney Dangerfield. I'm surprised nobody ever said "let's ask Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence, and Tracy Morgan to be in this."
I'm known to like urban films. I thoroughly enjoyed the film Barbershop, and absolutely loved Boyz N The Hood, a drama film about three males growing up on the wrong side of the street. Even urban comedy films like Death at a Funeral, Don't Be a Menace To South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood, and Friday I can't help but laugh at. They are well written, but they also have a mind to their madness. They aren't always just random shouting from the characters, with pointless jokes. They can be funny and have a big heart.
Who's Your Caddy? does nothing but try to "start something." It tries to pull racial issues where none exist, and it tries to make white people the anti-Christ of the world. This was 2007. Now it's 2011. Racism exists, but it's now much more seldom than it once was. Instead of acting like this is the first time blacks and whites ever crossed paths, why don't they try and make it something different. Something, you know? More current and entertaining.
The story is a rapper nicknamed C-Note (Patton) is forbidden a membership to the prestigious golf-club that is Carolina Pines Country Club. So he purchases land that is part of the course, and winds up bribing his way into a membership earned from the club's strict owner (Jones). The rest of the film is just senseless humor about horses eating marijuana, farting, and racism. You can see this comedy comes from a very mature nature.
One of my favorite black comedians, Faizon Love, makes an appearance, but he thinks that being funny means shouting all his lines and repeating everything everyone else says just adding "the n word." Andy Milonakis also shows up playing a teenager, but if you know the truth that Milonakis is in his mid-thirties, and he only has the voice and appearance of a teenager because of a condition that stunts his growth, the joke is ruined. Now if I went into this under the impression that Milonakis was around seventeen, done some homework, and learned that he was in fact in his thirties, than the joke is on me. But since I didn't, the joke is on the movie for thinking I'm that out of touch.
The humor also derives from gangster rap and other things not currently present today. The film passes itself off as "just another 2007 comedy." Not a flashback one. Who's Your Caddy? tries to be current, but at the same time, it is so dated and so out of touch with today's society that if you're laughing at the movie, it's because it doesn't truly know what it is.
The biggest problem is just the subject matter and immaturity brought to light in this film. It disgusts me that this comedy is making humor out of racism, a very demeaning and vile thing that still exists today. It makes white people out to be the enemy. They try to say "Golf is a white man's sport and they don't allow black people." Stop and think - one of the biggest golfers today is black. And if you go to any golf course, I live right by one, you'll see black people play it too. Sure the sport is dominated by whites, but blacks are just as welcome. There are no racial issues here. So why bring them up as if their were?
Who's Your Caddy? says a lot about the world today. It says that white people are the enemy, they are used in this film to be awkward, and that the makers try to expose it in a comedy film with no redeeming qualities. Maybe this could've been a documentary, instead of a comedy if it wanted to focus on racial issues in the sport of golf. If that's the case, pick a genre.
Starring: Antwan "Big Boi" Patton, Jeffery Jones, James L. Avery, Tony Cox, Tamala Jones, Jenifer Lewis, Andy Milonakis, Sherri Shepperd, Tony Cox, and Lil Wayne. Directed by: Don Michael Paul.