A Low Down Dirty Shame

A Low Down Dirty Shame is really no more than all the most familiar Cop movie clichés arranged in an order that makes a barely cohesive story. But it's all the fun and silly action that occurs in between that really matters! It's a bit like The Last Boy Scout from a spoof-blaxploitation angle.

Shame (Keenan Ivory Wayans) is a former cop who has been blackballed after a major drugs bust went awry, leaving several DEA agents dead. He now works as a private detective, taking on suicide missions for peanuts and barely scraping by. His disapproving secretary Peaches (a very funny and very, very small Jada Pinkett) wants him to get his act together but he's too busy wallowing in self-pity.

His old pal from the DEA shows up and offers him a side mission to help get back at the Drug Kingpin who ruined his career. And so, with only a few clues, Shame begins his search and soon all roads lead to lies and deception. Like I said, the plot is certainly nothing special. But it does contain a helluva lot of laughs and decent action.

The one thing I can complain of is that the production design is kind of dated now. Action films have evolved so much in the past decade that watching ALDDS 12 years on can be a bit distracting. Wayans (who also directs as well as writing and starring) too often shoots non-actions scenes like a sitcom and his light-hearted editing may help remind you that this totally AIN'T a serious film but it's a little TV-ish if you know what I mean.

If you find ALDDS for cheap somewhere or if it's showing on TV then don't con yourself out of a fun movie. High art is not what this film aims to be.

There are some films that you can't decide whether the film is good or bad. On whether the film is worth the watch or you're better off doing some other more meaningful things. This film is one of it.

As I said, you might like it, you might not.

The acting a little bit over the top, but I think that's what the producer intended to do. The jokes may at times be quite crude, but maybe it's exactly the way it was suppose to be.

Worth a mention here is Jada Pinkett acting. She's quite good ! And I like her hairstyle too. Not that it has any bearing of the quality of acting though, just wanted to let you guys know.

Over all, the film is nice to watch, if you don't take it seriously.

Plot: A black detective becomes embroiled in a web of danger while searching for a fortune in missing drug money. During the course of his investigation, he encounters various old connections, ultimately confronting the criminal responsible for Shame's expulsion from the force. He must also deal with two women, Angela, a beautiful old flame, and Peaches, his energetic but annoying sidekick.

This is easily my favorite Keenan Ivory Wayans directed film. This combines action and comedy very well within its story. The cast all play their roles very well, especially Keenan and Jada Pinkett Smith who delivers some of the funniest lines of the movie. The jokes don't feel forced and help drive the story forwarded unlike a lot of comedies these days who like to repeat the same joke over and over again. I wish more comedies nowadays were more like this.

Overall, A Low Down Dirty Shame is a very underrated action comedy that delivers on the laughs, action, and has s good straight forwarded story That holds its own. Check this out if you haven't seen it, you will not regret it.

It was a shame that this movie couldn't have been 1) funny, and 2) faster paced. The plot was full of tired detective story cliches, including a plucky assistant who wants to get more involved in the action, a beautiful gun moll, and the cop who's main purpose is to berate the detective. Include stereotypical Hispanic gangsters, stereotypical gay men, and a friend of the cop who may not be whom he seems, and it adds up to poorly executed film. There were too many scenes that failed to move the plot along. In many spots, the movie came to a dead stop. Waynans, who did such great work on TV's "In Living Color", doesn't bring the same high quality to this movie. I'm glad I didn't see this in theaters when it was released. It doesn't make for a good video rental, either.

I enjoyed this film, and it holds up fairly well with repeated viewings.

But more importantly, this film has historical importance.

First of all, this film is drawing very heavily on Hong Kong action thrillers at a time when these were just getting attention in the US.

Secondly, compare this film very carefully with the Samuel Jackson "remake" of "Shaft", released - with enormous hype - in 2000.

I don't know why Wayans didn't sue for plagiarism. Samuel Jackson's Shaft is Shame without humor.

Unfortunately, the humor is absolutely essential to this story. For one thing, it creates a "black" identity that is capable of rising above any Hollywood appropriation of it. Shame's secretary - and real romantic interest - is a strong black woman - a character type that Hollywood has finally admitted actually exists only very recently, since about 2001.

So Samuel Jackson's Shaft gets a x-million dollars promo, and still can't come up with an interesting story (although it was nice to see Richard roundtree on the screen again).

Meanwhile, let's talk about entertainment - alright, there are some bits that don't work; but enough do to keep the film moving. I had good time; what the heck.