DVD Review: Underclassman

By Patrick Luce Jan 17, 2006, 13:20 GMT

The movie stars Nick Cannon as streetwise detective Tracy "Tre" Stokes - a rookie bike cop who finally gets the kind of heavyweight assignment he's been begging for when he is chosen to go undercover to find the killer of a student at an elite private school. Along the way, he stumbles onto a car theft ring, drug smuggling scheme, joins the school’s basketball team, falls for a teacher, and gets kicked off the force.

He also makes friends with some of the rich students (including Shawn Ashmore) who first seem like spoiled punks, and earns the respect of his Captain (played by Cheech Marin) and fellow police officers. Cannon also manages to get his high school diploma and proves that he can be as good a cop as his father – after spending the entire movie trying to live up to his memory.

Everything in movie screams “you have seen this before and better,” and Cannon comes across as a poor imitation of Eddie Murphy’s Axel Foley from Beverly Hills Cop. The young actor, who shared writing and producing credits on the film, does a decent job in the character, but never tries to make anything original.

Cannon makes sure to put enough co-stars in the film to help carry the dud, but it is not enough. The movie also includes some eye candy in Roselyn Sanchez and Kelly Hu but both actresses have little more to add to the movie other than their looks.

Even Cheech Marin can't save this movie

Hu plays a detective that is constantly looking out for and defending the high strung Cannon, but they never really explain her reasons for wanting to see him make it.

Sanchez plays the hottest Spanish teacher you may ever see at a private school, and the “love” interest for Cannon. She thinks he is a teenage student the entire film so the fact that they flirt back and forth is a bit disturbing.

Marin, who is almost always a scene stealer/savior, does bring some laughs to the screen, but even he can’t help keep the movie going. At times, he seems just as bored with the recycled material as the audience, and you have to wonder why he took the movie in the first place.

Ashmore, who is great as Iceman in the X-Men films, plays the rich spoil brat role in the film, and we know there is more to the character. By the end of the movie, we learn why he and his friends have been stealing cars (a reason that is just stupid) and who the real bad guy is behind the scenes (trust me, you know in the opening minutes). Ashmore comes through for Cannon in the end, and redeems his character just like we knew he would..

Cannon is a poor man's Axel Foley

Although Underclassman may fall flat with most adult audiences, it does deliver the type of humor and style that kids and teens will find entertaining. Cannon has a lot of the charm of a young Eddie Murphy without the “Rated R” mouth, and the film is safe for the family to watch.

The DVD does come with some special features that will entertain fans. They include some deleted scenes that fail to help save the movie from its faults; a standard “making of” feature; and some cast auditions.

Overall, Underclassman fails to deliver any solid laughs or anything original. Everything in the movie has been done before and done better. It isn’t a movie that I would recommend for fans of the cop comedy, such as Beverly Hills Cop or Stakeout, but it is something that is clean enough for the whole family to watch.

Underclassman is now available at Amazon. As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD’s database for more information.