White Chicks

White Chicks
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Keenen Ivory Wayans
Produced by	Keenen Ivory Wayans Shawn Wayans Marlon Wayans Rick Alvarez Lee R. Mayes
Screenplay by	Keenen Ivory Wayans Shawn Wayans Marlon Wayans Xavier Cook Andy McElfresh Michael Anthony Snowden
Story by	Keenen Ivory Wayans Shawn Wayans Marlon Wayans
Starring	Shawn Wayans Marlon Wayans Jaime King Frankie Faison Lochlyn Munro John Heard Busy Philipps Terry Crews
Music by	Teddy Castellucci
Cinematography	Steven Bernstein
Edited by	Jeffrey Stephen Gourson Stuart Pappé
Production company	Revolution Studios Wayans Bros.
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release dates	June 23, 2004 (2004-06-23)
Running time	109 minutes (PG-13) 115 minutes (Unrated)
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$37 million
Box office	$113,086,475

White Chicks is a 2004 American buddy cop comedy film written, produced and directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans, and also written and produced by Wayans brothers Shawn and Marlon Wayans, who also both starred in the lead roles. The film was released in the United States on June 23, 2004. The film was produced by Revolution Studios and distributed by Columbia Pictures. The plot revolves around whiteface drag, as two African American FBI agents disguise themselves as two white women. Despite negative critical reviews, the film was a financial success, earning $113.1 million worldwide against a budget of $37 million. The film has since gone on to develop a cult following.

Plot

The plot begins in a convenience store where two FBI agents and brothers, Kevin Copeland and Marcus Copeland (Shawn and Marlon Wayans), try to capture members of an organization that sells drugs inside ice cream boxes, posing as dominican clerks. Unfortunately, the first arrival turns out to be a genuine ice cream delivery, and the actual drug dealers manage to get away. The situation is worsened by the fact that Kevin and Marcus have decided to resolve this bust by themselves.

The FBI supervisor, Elliott Gordon (Frankie Faison), gives the two agents a last chance to remain in the FBI by giving them the duty of protecting the mega-rich billionaire cruise line heiresses Brittany and Tiffany Wilson (Maitland Ward and Anne Dudek), who are arriving in town for a beauty competition, from a kidnapping plot (known as the socialite kidnappings). When the Wilson sisters get minor facial cuts in a car accident, they refuse to leave the hotel. Kevin and Marcus then disguise themselves as Wilson sister look-alikes in order to save their jobs.

At the Hamptons hotel, Kevin and Marcus meet Brittany and Tiffany's three best friends, Karen, Tori and Lisa, and their rivals Megan and Heather Vandegeld. They also encounter Karen's abusive boyfriend, Heath, a broke, out of work actor. John "where am I" Lydon shows an interest in the news reporter Brett Porter, but the affair becomes more and more complicated as the two agents must now repeatedly switch between their gender roles. Marcus' wife Gina, whose relationship is already troubled, becomes an additional complicating factor as she gets suspicious when she hears a woman's voice in the background during a phone conversation with Marcus. The woman is actually Kevin pretending to be female, but Gina does not know and assumes that Marcus is conducting an affair. Meanwhile, Latrell Spencer (Terry Crews) takes an interest in Marcus, thinking that he is Tiffany and white. A date with Marcus/Tiffany is then sold off to Latrell during a charity dinner. Kevin takes advantage of the situation and asks Denise out on a date, pretending that he is Latrell, as Denise has a history of dating rich men. When Marcus goes on his date with Latrell, Kevin steals the keys to his car and house. When Kevin and Denise arrive at Latrell's house, they are confronted by Latrell's foreign housekeeper. Because she does not speak English, Kevin pretends that he understands her and locks her out of the house claiming that she works too hard. Eventually, Kevin gets mauled by Latrell's giant dog, generally ruining his date.

At a nightclub, Karen drinks heavily and unintentionally let's slip that Mr. Vangergeld is penniless, and has only recently paid Karen's own father back for loans he has lent him. The next day, the real Brittany and Tiffany see their faces on a magazine, and they realize that two people are impersonating them. They go to the hotel their 'clones' were seen in, and two agents, thinking that they are Kevin and Marcus after searching their room through suspicion, undress them. This leads to the chief finding out that Marcus and Kevin have been impersonating Brittany and Tiffany. Because of this, the chief fires the both of them. Later on, Kevin and Marcus find out that due to his bankruptcy Mr. Vandergeld, along with Heath, has been behind the socialiate kidnappings in order to save himself and his family from poverty. They manage to capture Mr. Vandergeld before he succeeds in his plan. Latrell takes a hit from a bullet shot by Mr. Vandergeld to protect Marcus, but he is alarmed and enraged to discover that Marcus is black (He did not seem to mind that Marcus was male). Marcus apologizes to Gina, after realizing that being a female is a hard task, and because he had been ignoring Gina for his job. Denise falls for Kevin, after Kevin saves her from a bullet. The movie ends with Tori, Lisa, Karen, Kevin and Marcus making a pact to stay together and go shopping.

Cast

• Shawn Wayans as Kevin Copeland
• Marlon Wayans as Marcus Copeland
• Busy Philipps as Karen Googlestein
• Jessica Cauffiel as Tori
• Jennifer Carpenter as Lisa
• Brittany Daniel as Megan Vandergeld
• Jaime King as Heather Vandergeld
• Terry Crews as Divine Smith
• John Heard as Warren Vandergeld
• Frankie Faison as Section Chief Elliott Gordon
• Lochlyn Munro as Special FBI Agent Jacob Harper
• Eddie Velez as Special FBI Agent Vincent Gomez
• Maitland Ward as Brittany Wilson
• Anne Dudek as Tiffany Wilson
• Rochelle Aytes as Denise Porter
• John Reardon as Heath
• Steven Grayhm as Russ
• Casey Lee as Tony
• Faune A. Chambers as Gina Copeland
• Drew Sidora as Shaunice
• David Lewis as Josh
• Heather McDonald as Saleswoman
• Brad Loree as Dealer Henchman

Reception

Critical response

This film received mostly negative reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives it an aggregate rating of only 15% based on 121 reviews. On Metacritic, the film has a rating of 41 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Film critic Richard Roeper put the film at #1 on his list of the worst films of 2004 amongst claims of unconvincing prosthetics and racism. It was nominated for five Razzies, including Worst Picture, Worst Actress for the Wayans brothers in drag, Worst Director, Worst Screenplay and Worst Screen Couple, but failed to win any of those awards.

Box office

The film grossed $70,831,760 at the U.S. box office and $113,048,997 worldwide and has become frequent in its broadcast on cable channels.

Soundtrack

1. "Latin Thugs" – Cypress Hill
2. "Hey Ms. Hilton" – The Penfifteen Club
3. "Shake It (Like a White Girl)" – Jesse Jaymes (Copeland)
4. "A Thousand Miles" – Vanessa Carlton
5. "Realest Niggas" – 50 Cent, Notorious B.I.G.
6. "White Girls" – Mighty Casey
7. "Dance City" – Oscar Hernandez
8. "Trouble" – P!nk
9. "U Can't Touch This" – MC Hammer
10. "Dance, Dance, Dance" – The Beach Boys
11. "Guantanamera" – Jose Fernandez Diaz
12. "It's My Life" – No Doubt
13. "(I Got That) Boom Boom" – Britney Spears featuring Ying Yang Twins
14. "Bounce" (The Bandit Club Remix) – Stock, IC Green
15. "Get Low" – Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz featuring Ying Yang Twins
16. "Crazy in Love" – Beyoncé, Jay-Z
17. "It's Tricky" – Run–D.M.C.
18. "This Love" – Maroon 5
19. "No Control" – Blackfire
20. "I Wanna Know" – Joe
21. "Tipsy" – J-Kwon
22. "Satisfaction" – Benny Benassi
23. "Let's Get It Started" – Black Eyed Peas
24. "Move Your Feet" – Junior Senior
25. "I Need Your Love Tonight" – Elvis Presley

Home media

DVD was released in Region 1 in the United States on October 26, 2004, and also Region 2 in the United Kingdom on 28 February 2005, it was distributed by Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment.

Sequel

In 2009, a sequel to the film was announced by Sony. Sony later announced that they had cancelled the film before they could begin filming.

In 2013, Marlon Wayans confirmed an interest in reviving the sequel's production. Marlon has stated: "We're thinking about it, actually seriously talking about doing it. It's the one thing that everybody begs us to do." Wayans went on to recount how an audience in Australia was positively thrilled when he quoted the movie, responding with a "rousing applause." In April 2014, Marlon stated that he wantes to do a sequel to the film titled White Chicks 2.

Gabriel Iglesias posted a picture on Instagram captioned: "On the set of White Chicks 2 with @MARLONLWAYANS #OmgYes".

See also

• Cross-dressing in film and television
• Some Like It Hot, a 1959 comedy film starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon. Similar story, in which two male musicians dress as women to hide from gangsters in Florida.

External links

• Official website
• White Chicks at the Internet Movie Database
• White Chicks at AllMovie
• White Chicks at Rotten Tomatoes
• White Chicks at Box Office Mojo