User reviews

Nick Cannon is not exactly the kind of person I'd send undercover to an exclusive prep school if I wanted to solve a murder and bust up some illegal activities going on there, still he does get the job done in Underclassman.

Sad to say that this film could not make up its mind whether it was a serious drama or a satire of such things as Mod Squad and 21 Jump Street. There was potential here for this to be a really funny comedy, but it just isn't realized.

Nick Cannon, Cheech Marin who plays his captain and the rest of the cast really give this one a try, but the aimless script and direction defeats them. When we find the identity of the perpetrator behind all the bad stuff it should have been a lot funnier than it was.

For fans of Nick Cannon only.

The movie starts when a rookie young detective (Nick Cannon) is assigned by his chief (Cheech Marin) for a dangerous mission . With help of local officers (Kelli Hu , Ian Gomez) begins the assignment , as he goes undercover at an elite high school where a murder erupts and a student is mysteriously found dead ; besides , cars smuggling and a drug ring are also happening at private college . He investigates suspects , especially another student is considered prime suspect . Meanwhile , he meets a beautiful teacher (Roselyn Sanchez).

It's an OK entertainment juvenile with noisy action , thriller , humor , tongue-in-check and results to be quite amusing .It's predictable but with lots of fun and the production values is nice , being produced by famed producers Harvey and Bob Weinstein . Originally set for a US theatrical release in 2004 , then two massive waves of layoffs were sustained at Miramax and Dimension , and the infamous Disney and Miramax split reached it's height . This film thus remained in the Miramax vaults unreleased during this time of uncertainty ; when the divorce was finally completed, numerous films under the Miramax and Dimension label were finally released theatrically . The foul-mouthed Nick Cannon (also producer) imitates to detective Axel Foley , formerly played by Eddie Murphy . Similar plot about undercover cop at high school was previously adapted in films such as ¨Undercover¨(1987 , John Stockwell) and ¨Plain clothes¨ (with Arliss Howard and Seymour Cassel) and taking parts from ¨Beverly Hills cop¨ and other pictures . It's a Nick Cannon (Drumline , Love don't cost a thing) humorous recital , he runs , hits , jumps and plays as an action hero . In addition , a gorgeous Roselyn Sánchez (Basic, Rush hour 2) , an explosive Latin beauty , and known secondaries as veteran Cheech Marin (Grindhouse ,Spy kids) , Kelli Hu (X2 , The Scorpion king) and Ian Gomez (Lost and Chasing Papi) , among others . The motion picture was regularly directed but at least you'll get some laughs . The picture isn't great , but for some , there may be reason to watch it but contains giggles and amusement . Rating : Mediocre but entertaining.

Tracy "Trey" Stokes is a twenty-three-year-old undercover cop, who, after his latest his escape lands him in hot water, must attend the wealthy private school Westbury Academy to investigate the death of a student. Trey immerses himself in the environment quite awkwardly, bringing looser, unrestricted elements of coolness to the school, while everyone around him operates with a sense of incorruptible seriousness. Trey befriends Rob Donovan (Shawn Ashmore), and begins to uncover more illegal actions on campus, this time involving stolen vehicles at parties. Now, Trey must rely on his street-smart ways and quick-witted senses to prove to his superior officer (Cheech Marin) he is indeed capable of handling tough, rugged crime sprees and doesn't become crushed under pressure.

Trey is played by Nick Cannon, the once wildly popular teen-star, famous for his many appearances on MTV shows, discography, among several other endeavors. Underclassman was the pitiful and lackluster attempt to continue Cannon's long-running success with the Television medium, and functions as one of those subpar star-vehicles we were used to watching in the nineties. Cannon isn't a contemptible screen-presence, but a manufactured one, spouting lingo we are supposed to perceive is cool because he says it in a time where formality is required.

Not to mention, he functions in a role that has been dominated by superior talent. Without even hesitating, Cannon's Trey brings to mind Axel Foley from Beverly Hills Cop and the young teenagers of the TV series 21 Jump Street. Between these two examples, it already brings to mind the more intriguing and thoughtful things that were done to the rebellious, undercover cop character than how it has been cut and pasted into a film erected more off of clichés and action set pieces than anything else. Admittedly, the opening sequence is fun to watch, showing an energetic Cannon attempt to stop a van of drug-dealers by chasing them through the beaches of Malibu on an all-terrain vehicle. This scene, as derivative as it is, is entertaining because of its clear direction and reason; it is photographed and illustrated clearly, thanks to director Marcos Siega, and doesn't feel gratuitous.

The remaining ninety-five minutes of Underclassman, however, feel much too gratuitous, stockpiled with clichés, emphasizing action and sloganeering over any reasonable character development, and monotonous all the more. Cannon may possess the ability to dazzle with his goofiness and his over-the-top actions, but, given such a mediocre script and a redundant, familiar plot line, has little to exercise within the confines of the writing. In addition, the personality is all in the action sequences, leaving the characters without a trait of identifiable humanity. Given the film's incredibly low gross and the poor critical reception, it just seems that nobody bought what Underclassman was selling and Nick Cannon, who proved to be immensely talented in his earlier picture Drumline, suffered as a result.

Starring: Nick Cannon, Shawn Ashmore, Roselyn Sánchez, Kelly Hu, Hugh Bonneville, and Cheech Marin. Directed by: Marcos Siega.

From Miramax, the company that brought you Shakespeare In Love, Pulp Fiction, and Good Will Hunting, comes Underclassman. To quote a classic Sesame Street song, "Which of these things is not like the other, which of these things does not belong?" The answer is – Underclassman. Why did they make this movie? I don't know who Nick Cannon is, I don't know what he does, but he must have some powerful connections (or be a Freemason) for Miramax to allow him to write, star, and executive produce this hackneyed piece of over-used Hollywood clichés. Cannon plays a young and reckless rookie cop who goes undercover as a high school senior to catch a murderer in an affluent (think Westlake High) white high school. Prepare yourself for a deep sociological study of the differences between black and white people…not really.

Instead, prepare for the inevitable warehouse bust, car chase down busy highway, boat chase, and hostage situation with the woman he loves. The only funny line in the film is when the dorky white guy gets rejected by two hot chicks and says, "They probably had herpes anyways." That was funny. Nothing else was.

Police detective Tre Stokes (Nick Cannon) goes undercover at an upper class private school to infiltrate a car-thieving ring and find out who murdered one of the students, but he soon finds that this sort of school environment is very different from the streets of L.A.

The premise is very thin and unoriginal so the strength of the film is entirely up to Nick Cannon. Unfortunately, Nick Cannon doesn't deliver. He tries way too hard to be funny and he only manages to make a couple of jokes work. I think he has some potential but he needs to pick better scripts. Also, he should start off as a supporting actor since he doesn't really have what it takes to be a leading man, in my opinion. The main problem with the film is the script since it's very lame and offensive. Most of the jokes are racist and derivative so there's another problem. Screenwriters David Wagner and Brent Goldberg come up with a bunch of annoying clichés that don't work out. They don't seem to be trying at all which isn't surprising since they are responsible for My Baby's Daddy.

After Nick Cannon, the supporting actors aren't any better and this is clearly a paycheck movie for everyone involved. Shawn Ashmore is okay as Iceman but his performance isn't very good here. Cheech Marin doesn't really do anything special and he ends up being bland. Kelly Hu and Ian Gomez both play detectives and they just look bored throughout the entire film. Roselyn Sanchez is sadly underused in her role.

Director Marcos Siega does an okay job behind the camera. He at least tries to keep things interesting with a few car sequences that should wake up the viewer. Besides for that and a few jokes, the film is a dud. The romance between Cannon and Sanchez is unbelievable and forced. Most of the supporting characters are one dimensional and they are props for Cannon's insults. The film is also pretty offensive with its racial stereotyping and outdated jokes. Underclassman could have been an enjoyable, harmless film even if it isn't original. However, the offensive script kills that opportunity and the movie ends up being below average. In the end, unless you're a big fan of Nick Cannon, skip this film. Rating 4/10

The only audience that may find this pulp palatable would be perhaps 8th graders. All whites are: sloppy, fat, rude, vulgar, crooks, and stupid. People of color are going to: 1) save the world, 2) run the world, 3) help white people not be so lame, 4) help white people be better people, and 5) help white people play basketball. The script must have been written by the same author of the "Midnight Basketball" federal program.

This movie is so horrible that an Ed Wood movie is wonderful by comparison. The continual racist play is topped with additional comments, such as: "chocolate has more flavor than vanilla" - even though the recipe called for vanilla.

Besides the weakness of the script, directing, editing, and acting there is ... oh, there is nothing else. This movie is insulting on all levels and could only appeal to the black ku klux klan - move over "Birth of a Nation" you have a new contender for top racist movie ever made. 1/10 (Because IMDb.com doesn't allow negative scores.)

-Zafoid

Nick "Drumline" Cannon does his best to resurrect the Eddie Murphy of "Beverly Hills Cop," albeit with little success, in UNDERCLASSMAN. Cannon plays a cop who goes undercover as a student to probe a car theft ring and the related murder of a student. Unfortunately, Cannon is too lightweight and the plot is completely recycled from the aforementioned BEVERLY HILLS COP. A couple of car chases momentarily enliven things, and Cheech Marin is semi-funny as Cannon's long-suffering boss. But the film, which was held back from release for some time during the infamous Disney-Miramax war, finally arrived in 2005 DOA. For those who liked Cannon in "Drumline," you would be well advised to stay away from this.

I see Nick Cannon shares a story credit on "Underclassman." I guess this means one day in his childhood he must have stayed home from kindergarten and caught "Plain Clothes" on cable. Has no one else noticed the premise (cop goes undercover in a high school to catch a killer) is lifted straight from that movie? At least that movie was fairly clever and got some comic mileage from Arliss Howard trying to pass as a teenager. I hear loose talk of plot points and dialogue lifted from "Point Break" as well.

Are writers and their lawyers too lazy to sue over flagrant plagiarism anymore? Why isn't Peter Benchley's estate trying to horn in on "Into the Blue"? Maybe the whole "Blue Lagoon" vs. "Paradise" outcome years ago was too discouraging, or Dick Lupoff's unfortunate experience of his story "12:01 P.M." being turned into an Oscar-nominated short film on Showtime and yet still apparently miraculously missing the notice of the writers of the curiously similar "Groundhog Day." There was a time you saw remakes acknowledge their sources. Ah, what innocent times those were. We were all so naive then.

I was very skeptical about this movie: low rating, bad review but i really liked it!!! This is probably the most underrated movie ever!!!! I saw a lot of crappy movie made in 2005, some very bad, but they had always higher score than this!!!!!! why??? This is a nice adventure,cop, comedy movie.... OK this movie will not be a cult movie or a potential Oscar winner but it still worth watching. Absolutely not as bad as people say. So, if you are searching for a nice comedy,adv,cop,teen movie without deep plot and some laugh this is a good 90 minutes to spend in front of your TV!!! Don't believe the low rating!!!

I don't usually give praise to many movies - am too critical. However, like a few others viewers who cared to remark, I'm shocked that so many on IMDb gave this flick such a low rating, so I have to retaliate.

The reason I give this props is twofold: (1) I usually hate sophomoric humor and many films directed at a teen audience. However, Cannon's quick-witted, disarming lines made me laugh the whole way through. His dry, comic delivery is underrated and unpredictable, to say the least. As for the racism observations, I'm white, and I think that charge is ridiculous. Sure, there's racial humor, but get a funnybone - it's a joke. can't you laugh at yourself? We whites tend to have a stick up our butts - the characters played off each other. Why react with such sensitivity? The comedy definitely shines.

(2) At least 4-6 of the characters develop to some extent. It's a kind of coming of age story for Cannon who proves not only his professional sense and skills but his interpersonal growth with peers. He's not sensitive to the rejection and pushes through, adapting his behavior until he wins confidence. A lesson for most of us. While it's true that most characters are foils by comparison to Cannon, the lead, the supporting cast are NOT completely flat characters. The Captain, two other police officers and at least two students and one teacher come to put things in new perspective or grow up, in one way or another.

In short, this is not just the mindless fluff other viewers seem to see. Yes, there were clichés, and the script was often predictable, but welcome to 95% of big or small screen writing in America, these days. If you like sardonic wit, humorous ghetto-talk and a bit of silliness with some serious undercurrents, growth and bonding - lessons of friendship - ignore the dissing and take a look for yourself. It made me chuckle for over an hour and made my day.

I'm really upset at the rating for this movie? Why so low? I didn't really like Nick Canon(SP?) until i saw Wild N Out, and that didn't really do much for me either, but in this movie he is good. The plot is about Canon, being a bike cop and wanting some more respect. He eventually gets an undercover job posing as a student to try to solve a car/drug mystery. Everyone said that he was a horrible actor, has bad comedic timing, but thats not right. I can honestly say that I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. It brought you comedy and action, the two prevalent factors in watchable movies these days. Canon has that kind of comedy where he is trying to be funny, and succeeds.

movie just seemed to be very lame ,

not funny at all ... very poorly written , might be funny to a younger crowd .. i find that this actor does really not know how to act ... he tries to be funny but just really isn't ... i guess that fact that is wasn't advertised as much as good movies and that the fact that it is already very poorly rated would of been a good hint for me not to watch it but i had to find out for myself. i recommend that anyone who wants to watch this movie that they don't, save yourself the trouble and find a better movie ... i 'm not saying you would hate it ...but don't buy this movie ... rent it .. yea maybe .. i guess but definitely don't waste twenty dollars to go buy it ... well thats my rant about that movie ... happy viewing

If there is a single most outstanding thing about Hollywood film-making is the insane watchability of even the most wretched projects like UNDERCLASSMAN. If you try to dissect UNDERCLASSMAN then it is an unbearably derivative undercover cop flick which borrows heavily from BEVERLY HILLS COP politics, 21 JUMP STREET appeal and most apparently POINT BREAK's plot. Kathryn Bigelow POINT BREAK is one of the most potent undercover cop flicks in history. Even though it's mot some textbook example that you can derive from. Well, in UNDERCLASSMAN, a huge chunk of the structure and character chemistry was taken from POINT BREAK. The friendship between the young cop and the main suspect, the arrest of some other undercover DEA agent, the red herrings and the analysis of the timeline, it was all transplanted from POINT BREAK. I feel it would it would be right if Miramax paid some royalties to the people who made it.

Talented music video director Marcos Siega (Weezer, blink-182) who kicked off with PRETTY PERSUASION, got attached in order to infuse this flick with some life. He failed. So did the screen writing team of Wagner and Goldberg who wrote a great high school romcom THE GIRL NEXT DOOR and seemed capable of refreshing the genre. But even they place very few and far between flourishes in the script.

This is film is a failure for all concerned.

However, it is insanely watchable. I loathed it, noticed shameless rip-offs, felt ashamed of myself for renting it, but still, I kept watching it, up until the end credits. I must admit that. Siega and the writers made it slick enough to swallow. That is craft I can't deny. And that's about it.

LA's youngest cop Tracey "Tre" Stokes (Cannon) is about to get his biggest assignment.He must go undercover&break up a dangerous crime ring rooted in a upscale prep school. The deeper Tre goes the more dangerous and volatile the situation becomes. Fighting both his personal demons and the forces determined to take him down, he must risk everything to catch the ones closest to him. Tre wants to follow in his father's footsteps. His father was an LA cop, in fact he was working in the same station Tre is working at. He's supposed to register as a student but yet go undercover. The sexy Roselyn Sanchez co stars as Tre's Spanish teacher. Now let me say how lucky he is to have her as a teacher. Also, the stunning Kelly Hu co stars as a cop.

Nick Cannon has made other films. Some better than the others. But the one with the best story and which was a great film was 2002's Drumline. When Love Don't Cost A thing came out in 2003, it wasn't that great of a movie. Nick Cannon chooses the right roles but the plot is not that great. Now, Underclassman may seem like it has a great story but it's one of the movies thats either good or bad, but it just falls in between. I odn't really know what to say about this movie. I laughed at a few scenes. But Nick Cannon can get pretty annoying as he jokes. One scene when he falls into the water and comments "I think I just swolled Nemo". He keeps acting that way and it gets annoying.

Now this movie is better than Love Don't Cose A Thing but I'd probably recommend Drumline before you go see this movie. It's just not right at the top. It has action and comedy but it doesn't mean it's good. I'd give it a 5.5/10

After reading the other comments and seeing that it got only 3 stars, I was not looking forward to seeing this movie. But my 14 year old son and his friend, as well as my 11 year old son, wanted to see it so I took them. The movie was actually much better than I expected. It was an action film that was very exciting, had some good chase scenes, and had good character development that had me rooting for the main character to succeed. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this movie. This is a good movie even for kids as young as 11 if my younger son is any indication. He said he would give the movie 7 stars and my older son and his friend said they would give it 7 or 8 stars. They all liked the action.

The film's got laughable and insane plot of a young high school student working as an undercover LAPD cop working on a car theft case. The acting's pretty bad (I recognised only Kelly Hu and Ashmore among the cast) and the screenplay's full of tiresome clichés of racial harmony, student-teacher relationship, basketball and dead father's inspiration. Still the story carries itself to the end smoothly. As I was watching the film, I frequently found myself enjoying the poor-quality scenes and dialogues. Instantly forgettable it may be, but I never came to a point of actually hating this film. Come on, it's not that bad as the IMDb rated... I've seen much worse.

Sheesh! Why does everyone hate this film so much? It seems to be mostly because of Nick Cannon, granted I can sorta see how he'd grate on the nerves, but I found him to be an absolute riot with lines like "back in my old neighborhood, getting crabs was something totally different, and "I think I swallowed Nemo! Cannon looks like he's really enjoying himself here and comes across as really likable, the rest of the actors are decent enough, there's no real "bad" acting here. The plot, while pretty thin, is well done enough that it dosen't matter much, and yeah I did notice the Point Break similarities but I don't consider it a bad thing when a film has very similar scenes to another film. Speaking of which, the climatic fight in this film is virtually identical to the one at the end of Patriot Games but that didn't bother me too much. This is a highly underrated, lighthearted and hilarious action-comedy that's nowhere near as bad as everyone else has led you to believe.

A police officer has to go undercover and go through an unconventional situation in order to arrest some powerful criminals. An international gang of car thieves is operating in the city. The police department is concerned about the case and does everything to try to catch the criminals. So, they decide to send a young and promising police officer on a thankless mission: he has to disguise himself as a student at a prestigious private school and infiltrate the students to find out how the criminals act and to be able to arrest them. However, a lot happens along the way and he will have to deal with issues he never imagined, in addition to facing the dangerous gang.

Reference to the late "Weight Watchers", dubbed by Professor Girafales... Very 90s-style, despite being in 2005, those undercover investigative police comedy films, cliché, despite the almost frustrated attempt to create a mystery around the real killer as well as his motivation, everyday characters, automatic and labeled school and police community, simple, funny jokes, regular light and non-thinking pastime film...

"Underclassman" is not a particularly memorable or impressive movie. It is sort of a clone version of "Beverly Hills Cop" mixed with "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air". Now, you might think that it would make for a good combination, so did I. But the movie doesn't offer anything new or innovative that hasn't already been done or shown in the aforementioned titles.

The story is about a reckless undercover police man named Tracey who is sent into a private school to unravel a stolen car ring.

Story-wise, then "Underclassman" is adequate, just don't expect to be blown away by anything overly impressive. If you enjoyed the aforementioned titles then you will enjoy this movie to some extend. I just thought that this movie was a bit weak.

The acting in the movie was good, though. And it was nice to see Cheech Marin in the movie. Just a shame he didn't have more time on the screen. I bought this movie because of Kelly Hu, and was disappointed with the short amount of screen time she was given, especially when she was on the front cover of the DVD movie.

This is the type of movie that you will watch once, bag and tag it, and only to forget about it as it collects dust on the shelf.

Who would employ Nick Cannon to act? I can only assume he has one of the best agents in Hollywood, because every day far more talented actors go without work. I guess I imagine the situation to be, like Nick Cannon charms some creepy Studio executive, y'know, some humorless rapist who wants to live vicariously through the youth of Nick Cannon, and this creep executive so enamored with the young actor's vitality that he gives Nick Cannon a movie deal. I'm also assuming a very naive 18 year old woman had regrettable sex with Nick Cannon afterwards and per Mr. Cannon's and the creepy studio executive's agreement, the executive got to watch the regrettable sex.