James Toback tried to send out a message of what white American kids do to adapt to a hip hop culture while growing up. Like the movie Thirteen, it explores themes of what kids will do to fit in. Rich white kids preferring the black hood life of sex, violence and drugs tearing their own lives apart, black kids mingling with whites, trying to claim their own business deals, with guns and taunts when they have the cash, not trying to make their lives better, just expanding their stereotypes. This makes neither the group of whites or blacks likable. There's a lot of different story lines but none of them really click.The one that does is when a corrupt cop (played by Ben Stiller) approaches a black guy with a bribe that turns out to be a con, to get at his friend Rich. When he finds out about it, not only does he screw his girlfriend (Claudia Schiffer) but he also gets one of his white cats to take him out, without even telling him why, and he does it. The girlfriend is neither happy nor sad when she hears the news.There are a hell of a lot of cameos in this movie, including a then fit Mike Tyson, whom Toback is a fan, Brooke Sheilds, Joe Pantoliano, Jared Leto and last but not least, Robert Downey Jr, as a gay man looking a lot like Elton John. Unfortunately all the famous people in the world can't make up for how screwed up the story line is. It could have been a great film about teens, race relations and cultural impact, but it totally missed the spot.

I just don't understand how some people can comment on this film saying that it had little structure yet can comment about Independance Day being good!!!! This film is realistic and quite humerous. It doesn't depict Blacks as wanting a quick lay and it doesn't potray White as trying to be bling!!It just depicts the characters we see do what they want to do... And besides, if you hated the film so much, you should have turned it off. The fact the very vast majority did not suggests you are not at all being honest in your opinions of this film.Get a life people and carry on watching your Hollywood Superflicks!!My verdict: 7/10

A group of white kids become the focus of a pair of documentary film makers looking at the phenomenon of the `wigger' - white kids adopting the mannerisms and culture of the black, hip-hop community. Meanwhile gangsters-come-rappers Rich Bower and Cigar have to face up to the opening of a white club in their neighbourhood. Also college basketball player Dean is set up for throwing a game and forced to provide evidence to the cops on Bower.If my plot summary sounds like it's confused or unclear, there's a good reason for that; it's because the film itself is very much spinning all over the place with a whole lot of strands. It is apparent that the film is trying to make a bigger point about culture, identity and race relations in the US but the frustrating thing is that it just doesn't manage to do it. It has plenty of interest moments and plenty of interesting characters that say a lot, but it never manages to come together in anything that is either thought provoking or satisfying.I had hoped that the film would pull all it's threads together to deliver a point but it didn't. The stories themselves are quite interesting on the whole, but it is evident that this is not what the film was after. Hence we don't get a conclusion, we get an unclear `6 months later' finale that even just plays over the end credits - that's how little the stories actually meant. OK, so that leaves us with the commentary concept of this film - that it's not just about the actions, it's about the wider issues. If that is the case, the film still flounders a bit because it was not clear to me what point it was trying to make beyond the `white kids like black culture', `black people don't like white people stealing their culture' etc etc stuff that shouldn't have taken 100 minutes to make!Despite these comments, I did enjoy watching the film. The semi-improvised nature of the film makes for an enjoyable experience and for scenes with flowing, quite natural dialogue. The downside of that is that many of the cast mistake mumbling in ebonics for interesting dialogue. The cast is still impressive despite the fact that many of them have nothing really to do. The main players don't impress that much - Downey and Shields are pretty poor, mainly because their characters are pointless. The various white kids just slum it in wigger roles that would be funny if they weren't so accurate. The cameos and roles for rappers are actually quite good - but most of them are just playing the gangster roles that they play everyday in their music. Raekwon and Power from Wu Tang were both pretty good but he film benefits mostly from the sheer number of faces rather than the quality. Houston, Tyson, Pantoliano, Stiller, Method Man, Ratner and various other rappers all add interest.Overall this film is entertaining in it's freewheeling manner but it is hard to ignore the fact that it doesn't achieve anything. The stories don't really go anywhere and the points about race and cultural identity get muddled and lost in the mix. It has potential and it is definitely interesting, but it is badly flawed.

black and white doesn't make gray, this film is filled with colorful characters and great cameos, I love film like this which just sweep you up and take you around town with these different individuals just living with them for a few hours, the musical choices fit perfectly and performances Toback draws from his actors - no surprise even Tyson gets to impress me. another interesting choice for Downey JR. look for Brett Ratner overall 8/10