Benn Farrell Code Name:
the Cleaner (2007)
reviewed by Benn "Where's the Humanity?" Farrell

emoticon
I get the feeling this was once a serious espionage screenplay.

In “Code Name: the Cleaner,” Jake, played by Cedric the Entertainer (The Honeymooners), wakes up in a hotel room with a dead FBL agent, a quarter-million dollars and no memory.

Soon, as he attempts to piece together his memory, Jake convinces himself he may be a secret agent, as do the conspirators chasing after him, in pursuit of a secret computer chip.

If this script was originally a serious thriller, than it’s an example of what happens when studio executives get a hold of a screenplay and hope to make it funny by simply casting a comedian.

First off, let me say Cedric the Entertainer is a funny, FUNNY stand up comic. I LOVE his stand up material; however, I don’t think the guy has enough training to make it as a comedic actor. Acting in a comedy is still acting. It still requires preparation and script analysis. I don’t get the sense Mr. The Entertainer did that, nor was he asked to.

Nicollette Sheridan (TV’s Desperate Housewives) and Lucy Lieu (Lucky Number Slevin) were both smoking hot in this picture. Sheridan is in fine shape for the bra and panties dance she had to perform in the first act—thank you, director Les Mayfield, by the way—and Lieu had an awesome wardrobe which demonstrated how shapely she really is.

The picture has a couple of laughs in it, but overall, it’s a movie to smile at but not roar. It certainly doesn’t break new ground in the world of comedy.

Story-wise, there were several points where the movie could have gone in very interesting directions, especially for a high concept comedy, but Mayfield relied too much on Cedric the Entertainers ability, or lack there of, to carry an entire picture.

If you are a devoted Cedric fan, I think you may enjoy this one to some degree, but even at that, I would wait until this title hit the DVD shelves.

Benn - Where's the Humanity?