White Men Can't Rap (2005) User Reviews

White Men Can't Rap needs much more editing

[tobeornottobe · 3/10 · 18 April 2005]

The Philadelphia Film Festival's hometown film this year was'White Men Can't Rap'. I had the honor to purchase a ticket to the closing night Festival of Independent's sold out World Premiere of this film. The title of the film gives it so much hope, that this could be one of the best films to come out of Philadelphia. Everyone was excited about the film, cast and crew were out in full force to support Rick Morris. The film is about a Philly Film about a detective going undercover in the Philadelphia underground rap scene. During the festival, I heard producers talk about how distributors are coming to look for the film, and one of the producers right before the screening told someone that they want this film to be in theaters, not just a DVD release. I had high hopes, a budget of $331,000 reports IMDb, just a little below Napoleon Dynamites budget. I am a huge fan of screwball comedies such as Police Academy, Naked Gun, even Billy Maddison! The world premiere of White Men Can't Rap looked like an early cut. The man who selected the film for the festival said that this was a new cut of the film and he has not even seen it! The film was projected from either DVD or Digibeta, so as I suspected that film was not a finished project. Editing was rough, Sound was off, There was no color correction, there were not even titles at the end of the film. If you are going to premiere your film at a major film festival and invite distributors, please make sure at least 2 of these things are completed! You should also set it straight that this is not a completed film.

I'm not going to get much into to plot so there are not too many spoilers in this, but I came in expecting a spoof of 8 Mile, State Property, and even Malibu's Most Wanted, but there is little rapping in this film at all. I am a huge fan of the Bloodhound Gang, and Evil Jared has a part in the film, and I'm a huge fan of Gervase from Survivor season 1, and they are in the film very little.

Rick Morris wrote, directed, and edited the film. The script seems like it needed about 15 rewrites, a new director, and definitely a new editor! During the Q&A after the film, Rick Morris asked a Temple University Grad Student if she was great at Final Cut Pro, that was the only time I laughed during the film! Rick does need a new editor, I think they should start from scratch, take all of the footage, and make a film that makes sense.

I'm sorry if this comes off strong, but as a member of the media in Philadelphia, I love to see Philadelphia filmmakers make it in this tough industry. This film needs help, as where it stands this will be a long shot to even get a DVD release.

If you have the chance to see this at a festival in the future please post some followups to let us know how it ends up.

this dude is in search for a missing bass player..blah blah blah this movie was too terrible to explain

[jinahy · 1/10 · 4 May 2005]

This was by far the WORST movie I have ever seen. EVERYTHING about this movie was horrible. HORRIBLE! Besides the bad acting, the bad sound quality, the terrible directing, and the terrible editing job, what made this movie morbidly horrible was the screenplay. The jokes throughout this movie were excruciatingly painful to listen to. I think I gave a faint smile during one scene in the entire movie. The humor does not work because it simply is NOT funny...it is unoriginal, not very clever, and very elementary. What really ticks me off about this movie is that it has nothing to do with the underground hip-hop movement in Philadelphia. Hell, it had pretty much nothing to do with Philly at all. Whoever wrote this movie obviously does not live in Philly (the suburbs don't count), or has no understanding of hip-hop culture in Philadelphia. My boyfriend and I could not believe how horrible this movie was (and he is a huge film buff). We had trouble falling asleep that night.

could be the worst film ever

[shadyraul · 1/10 · 20 April 2005]

I thought this film would be about an aspiring white hip hop artist or rapper who was going through some reverse racism while he was trying to get his career started, and boy was I wrong. This has nothing to do with hip hop. The acting is terrible, the camera work is terrible, and their are several sequences that have irritating static over the dialogue.

I saw this film during its world premiere in Philly and I am ashamed it had anything to do with Philadelphia. I understand it was meant not to be a masterpiece, but instead like great pics like the Naked Gun and Airplane, but this had no flow to it the scenes made no sense. Like the ridiculously bad and unfunny scene where KO is tied up and two chicks come in and act crazy and take his pants off. Oh and the scene where two goons tie up KO and leave him in his office, why would you tie him up just to leave him in the same place he was at? Myself and my date could not get to sleep over how bad this film was. If anyone even remotely found this funny please tell me why because I will be in disbelief. This is the first and probably last film I will ever submit anything to on this site because it is that bad. the only person in this film that still should have some dignity left is the chef guy who claimed all black people are addicted to ranch dressing, that scene was not bad.

Again, this has nothing to do with hip hop, it has one scene where a white guy raps and that is all, so where the title came from I do not no. this is what happens when a white director tries to make a film about black culture, do yourself a favor and stay away.

Excellent World Premiere

[clapboardguy · 8/10 · 23 April 2005]

Film clearly still in development, but even with technical flaws the jokes clearly connected with the sold out house - and the judges as film won Best Feature in its category in the Philadelphia Film Festival. Extremely innovative Scary Movie style approach to telling the story of a white detective who enters the unwelcoming black N. Philly hip hop community to find a missing musician.

The MC Breeze created soundtrack uses a diverse collection of musical styles which reflect the current direction of hip hop (sorry myopic thug lovers, but Outkast goes from rap to doo wop and everywhere else).

Contrary to previous posts questioning the title's relevance, White Men Can't Rap plays very tightly into the turning point in the movie. A couple scathing posts both made clear those reviewers expected a movie either about a white rapper trying to make it big or a satire of 8 mile. One sentence of all the pre-screening marketing material would have made clear you were setting yourself up for disappointment. And as Brabara Streissand said, "Prince of Tides is neither about a Prince or tides."

Lead actor John Lumia was excellent as Detective KO and Clifton Powell makes a side-splitting cameo as a chef having a backyard cookout. Surprisingly strong effort from the rookie actor from the Atlanta Falcons, Bryan Scott, who plays a drummer. NFL actors union can survive without OJ.

Look forward to seeing a polished version when editing is complete and sound is sweetened.

Potential to be an Indie hit

[goatsmilk77 · 8/10 · 18 May 2005]

I'll share my thoughts, but the thoughts of an individual can be jaded. People looking for a broad perspective of all who attended White Men Can't Rap at the Philadelphia Film festival should consider the rating given by the Audience Ballot Results. The festival web site reports the 600 attendees rated it 3.9 out of 5, with a score of 4 representing Very Good. I think the judges at the Philly Fest who awarded the film Best Feature in the FestIndies Division were looking beyond the technical flaws (audio) and acknowledging the filmmaker's evolving creative vision.

Personally, even with the clear need for additional post-production work, it was a high-risk, adventurous indie comedy that managed to deliver the laughs even in its unrefined state. Good to see John Canada Terrell back on the big screen and Clifton Powell again showing his range by doing whacked out comedy after his serious role in Ray. Assuming the producers straighten out the technical glitches, keep this on your radar screen as the surprise Indie comedy of 2005 or 2006.

where to view movie

[vonmoyerhaus · 16 April 2015]

I have been trying to see where i can get to watch the movie. My German shepherd Luka was in the he bar scene and i would like to see her because she has passed a few years ago. it would mean a lot for me 2 be able to see her. If anyone can let me know i would appreciate it please message so i can hopefully see the movie and show my children the dog the loved so much and still talk about her. We breed shepherds and it would be great 2 show people what our girl had done. This will mean the world to our family and all our puppy people that have her lines in their puppies. I really want to see this movie and i can then rate it for what we see. We had a lot of fun filming the movie.