For those of you too young to remember, that was an early Wayans Brothers effort wherein the late, great Bernie Casey parodied Richard Roundtree's original version of SHAFT. Along with every other cliche and stereotype made famous by the "Blaxploitation" craze of the early 1970's! And, for the first half of the movie, Jeffrey Usher (not to be confused with singer Usher Raymond V) is acting like a parody of Keenan Ivory Wayans. Although, not quite as humorously.
The second half becomes more delightfully action-packed, however. Like the first BEVERLY HILLS COP or LETHAL WEAPON!
I'll keep the spoilers to a minimum.
Suffice it to say that the identity of the true Bad Guys was not as big a surprise as one of the older roots of the Shaft family tree. SLJ's tirade, about being mistaken for Laurence Fishburne, is a slightly amusing in-joke. And the swearing in general was so over-abundant, I almost wish there had been a little more female frontal nudity to balance it out!*
Hence, I only award this six out of ten stars. It's an exciting time-killer! But, not much more than that.
*Repeat: almost.
The second half becomes more delightfully action-packed, however. Like the first BEVERLY HILLS COP or LETHAL WEAPON!
I'll keep the spoilers to a minimum.
Suffice it to say that the identity of the true Bad Guys was not as big a surprise as one of the older roots of the Shaft family tree. SLJ's tirade, about being mistaken for Laurence Fishburne, is a slightly amusing in-joke. And the swearing in general was so over-abundant, I almost wish there had been a little more female frontal nudity to balance it out!*
Hence, I only award this six out of ten stars. It's an exciting time-killer! But, not much more than that.
*Repeat: almost.