Class Act

DVD Reviews | May 14th, 2010

Starring: Christopher Reid, Christopher Martin, Doug E. Doug, Karyn Parsons, Alysia Rogers, Meshach Taylor, Mariann Aalda, Pauly Shore
Written By: Cynthia Friedlob, John Semper, Michael Swerdlick, Richard Brenne, Wayne Allan Rice
Directed By: Randall Miller
Studio: Warner Bros
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The other Kid N’ Play movie that was made besides the House Party films was an “urban re-telling” of the Prince and the Pauper called Class Act. While it’s not as good as House Party, it still provided laughs at the time. Warner Brothers is finally releasing this DVD on May 18th and many others that haven’t been released on DVD yet.

The film is about Duncan Pinderhughes (Christopher Reid), a high school genius who’s smart, nerdy but not very good at sports and with the ladies either. In order to graduate and attend Harvard, Duncan has to pass gym. On the other side of the tracks, Michael “Blade” Brown (Christopher Martin) is in jail and his parole officer tells him he’s being released. The one condition is that he has to pass all his classes and have no incidents at school. Both people show up at the same school, when a mishap happens and their files and photos are mixed up. The school and the students believe Duncan is Blade and Blade is Duncan. Blade realizes he’s been placed in the genius classes and before Duncan can go to the school with the mishap, he tells/threatens Duncan to go along with it. He wants to pass his classes, and he helps out Duncan deal with a thug and how to score with chicks. Things seem to be going well for both guys until a drug lord who Blade used to work for goes after him. Yadda yadda yadda…

Class Act was a movie I watched throughout high school. It’s just one of those movies I always watched whenever it aired on cable. House Party will always be the best film those guys did but Class Act was a decent comedy as well. It’s a bit dated now with the music and jokes, and it’s kind of hilarious to hear MC Hammer “U Can’t Touch This” featured throughout the movie.

Besides the outdated lingo like words like “stupid” “dope” and all that stuff, this comedy still offers plenty of laughs. I always found it funny that Duncan’s parents thought he was gay and how great it was to see his Dad walk in on him having sex with a girl at the end. Most parents would probably be pissed about that but that’s what was so funny about it, considering his dad was dancing around in the hallways afterwards. And obviously Kid N’ Play were both funny. Kid’s trademark eraser head was erased half way through the movie so to speak. Then his hair looked like a spider. I guess that made him look bad ass or something? Other scenes I enjoyed in Class Act include Duncan kicking the football, all the times he had a run in with the thug and having Blade’s tough guy friends help him out. It was also nice to see Karyn Parsons not play a ditsy girl like she did on Fresh Prince.

After seeing this again, I wondered why Kid N Play didn’t end up making more movies after this and the House Party films. They clearly have what it took to make a funny movie; its funnier than most of the Wayans movies that’s for sure. I know a lot of people wanted to get this on DVD and they finally can, but I think you can only get it through Warner Bros archive website. Check this out, it is “bad!” Yes, I know I sounded lame but that was on purpose.

Features:
None

Videos:
16×9 Full Frame

Bottom Line: A funny movie that’s a bit dated but if you enjoy Kid N Play movies, you’ll want to finally get this on DVD!
Running Time: 98 mins
Rating: NR
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating:

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