Code Name: The Cleaner Reviews

Jake Rodgers: "I'm the Black Rambo!"
Gina: "...Blambo?"

Ever seen a film entitled The Bourne Identity? If you have, then you'd be futilely massacring your precious time with Code Name: The Cleaner as it is essentially the same movie. If you haven't seen The Bourne Identity, watch it immediately so you won't ever feel the need to expose yourself to this rubbish!

2007 has been forced to bear a number of dreadful film releases with an inadequate number of masterpieces thus far. Code Name: The Cleaner is yet another unspeakably appalling comedy released at some stage during 2007. The film is primarily The Bourne Identity with a different cast. The plot is horrible, characters are all weak not to mention stereotypical, and performances are simply abysmal. Sure, casting Cedric the Entertainer as the lead in a movie may appear like a good idea...but they missed the mark unreservedly. In my opinion Cedric is no longer an entertainer, as I was not in the slightest bit entertained while watching this conventional baloney.

A guy named Jake (Cedric the Entertainer) wakes up in a hotel room next to a corpse with no clue about his identity. As flashbacks of his past come flooding back, he has a memory of being a special ops secret agent. But his allies around him claim he is merely a janitor. The convoluted, non-existent plot then turns into some story about a microchip and the FBI who are trying to track down Jake. Inadvertently, Jake is then entangled in some government conspiracy.

As I previously stated, Code Name: The Cleaner appears to be a pointless rehash of The Bourne Identity with the standard sexual gags and an attempt to include witty dialogue. These films are released far too frequently in this contemporary age of cinema. The filmmakers aim to gain a PG-13 rating from the MPAA to soak up every last dollar they can upon release. They realise it won't win any Oscars so their objective is to supply a bit of fun. This film is not fun at all! It's devoid of any laughs as there is nothing clever or remotely funny included in the film! The only parts I laughed at were merely out of pity because of how dreadful all the gags are. It's obvious there was room for Cedric to do some improvisation while on set, but he adds absolutely nothing to the film. Perhaps it's not my type of humour, or perhaps it was just woefully screen-written. Judging by the other reviews I've seen, I'm guessing it's the latter.

There are a few big names thrown into the cast...unfortunately none of the actors could redeem the embarrassing screenplay! Cedric the Entertainer is an African-American in PG-13 humour territory. The filmmakers seem to be under the impression that people find it funny when someone like Cedric makes cracks about sex or the attractiveness of a woman. This may be a controversial statement, but the only time I've seen this done right is in the Rush Hour movies. Cedric walks through the movie looking lost and confused. Lucy Liu does not even slightly possess any talent or acting skills evident here. Her aim is to utilise agility and acrobatic skills in an attempt to look impressive on screen. Every line she delivered that was meant to be funny...backfires completely. However I can't imagine any actor - no matter how talented - could have possibly redeemed the script. Not even the best screenwriter in the world could have redeemed the awful concept. What does that tell us? The film was doomed from the moment it was conceived and every second of this movie proves it.

The only reason I decided to watch this movie was because one of the featured actors shares the same first name as me (Callum), but watching this brings shame to my name and others who share the same title. To put it bluntly and simply; Code Name: The Cleaner is flat and witless, and among the worst films to transpire during 2007. It's tragic that comedies have sunk this low. Every predictable cliché in the book is shamelessly trotted out.

2.2/10

Ahem. Unfortunately... I've seen this. I think they tried to make it so stupid, it would be funny. But this was just so stupid.. it was almost unwatchable. So they threw in a few big names like Cedric the Entertainer and Lucy Liu, hoping to be a bit of a success. That's the way I see it anyway, for me this was a disaster from the minute it started. The jokes were lame, and so NOT funny at all, not even ones I'd smile at. Some people could say that this is entertaining and fun to watch, but I'm over the idea of comedy movies with a few Hollywood stars that end up being uninteresting and dull.

They captured the right idea of having Cedric the Entertainer as the brainless person in this, he's have to be clueless to think this would be a success. And that's exactly what his character, Jake, is. Were they trying to do a take off of the 'Bourne' movies and make it funny? Because really, it's the same storyline of him waking up and not knowing anything, and thinking he's part of some top secret agent stuff. Obviously they add in heaps of goof's to take up the time, but maybe that's where they were coming from. It's not obvious or anything, but I guess these days you can make comedy movies about anything or everything you want these days. The cover looks stupid, but I told myself not to judge a movie by it's cover.. sometimes I end up really liking flicks that have the worst covers, so that's why I saw it. Hopefully most people would avoid something like this, but if you're thinking about it, I'm warning you.. the cover is better than the actual film!

So Cedric the Entertainer had a few funny *cough cough* lines in this. Well, lines the screenwriter/s wanted to be funny, but I didn't even smile. Lucy Liu has no acting skills at all, all she does is try and make herself look good on the screen and seem cool that she's in a movie like this. The lines that were supposed to be funny from her, every time she said they you could tell she just wasn't supposed to be in this movie. Nicollette Sheridan was absolutely disgusting in the worst way you could imagine. I felt sick in the stomach whenever she was on the screen. How on earth did she become an actress? DeRay Davis was the only funny actor/character in this flick. Not laugh out loud stuff, but he's the only one that made me smile.

Avoid this for as long as you can, definitely not worth seeing.

Cedric the Entertainer ein in Europa eher unbekannter schwarzer Comedystar versucht sich hier als ahnungsloser Agent und macht seine Sache gar nicht mal so schlecht. Die recht vorhersehbare Story dient als Vehikel für diverse Slapstick und Action Szenen. Als attraktiver Aufputz agieren die leicht bekleidete Nicolette Sheridan und die toughe Lucy Lui, beide müssen dafür ihre bekannten Serienrollen nur minimal abändern. Die Inszenierung ist flott und handwerklich gut umgesetzt. Fazit: Eine nette kleine Komödie, die kaum ein Massenpublikum finden wird.