A Low Down Dirty Shame (1994)

Keenan Ivory Wayans should hold his head up high and be proud for writing and directing and starring in A Low Down Dirty Shame. He shouldn't feel dirty at all. I feel dirty with all these closeup shots of Jada's and Salli's juicy backsides. I'm not complaining. I'm doing the opposite. Jada is dead-seriously gorgeous. I love the way she's acting all ghetto. I wish Jada would just be like that in real life. I would find it appealing, and I would probably love her more than I already do now. That's all a fantasy. Jada is so underrated. She is so good. She is so very sexy. Salli Richardson too. Keenan is the sexiest Wayans brother. Him or Marlon. Or Shawn. Or Damon. I didn't think about Will Smith once.

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.

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 saw this movie when it first came out. There are three words that describe this movie: FUNNY AS HELL! Keenan Ivory Wayans was good in the title role, but Jada Pinkett and Charles S. Dutton were the two best things in the movie. Andrew Divoff was good as the villian and Salli Richardson was good as the damsel/villian in the movie. This movie will have you cracking up with laughter. But don't watch it on regular television, it won't do you justice. I saw from other reviews that people were complaining about the absurdity of the action. Well, it's an action-comedy. It's suppose to absurd. Besides, most movies that are in the action category are absurd anyway. On the other hand, this movie shows off the superb acting skills of Jada Pinkett, which Hollywood has just notice. In almost every scene that Keenan and Jada are in together, Jada usually outshines him. In addition, Salli Richarson is another black actress Hollywood seems to be ignoring. In her role, Richardson is sensual, dangerous, and cunning (If anyone wants to see more of Richardson, she's currently starring in the show "Family Law," on CBS). Charles S. Dutton overacts at times, but it adds to comedy part of the movie. MIGHT BE A SPOILER: This movie has a decent fight scene between the two female leads. Personally, it could have been longer. I give this movie a 8/10.