THE HOT CHICK is easily Rob Schneider's best movie. This, of course, is
less than a rousing endorsement of the star of such previous turkeys as THE
ANIMAL and DEUCE BIGALOW: MALE GIGOLO. THE HOT CHICK does have its cute
moments, but all of its best material is shown in the trailers, including
one joke that appears only in the trailers. On the downside, it contains
the most insufferably lame outtakes of any movie that I can ever remember,
so as soon as the credits begin to roll, you want to head for the exits.
Heading out even earlier might be preferable.
The movie, set in a California high school, starts in ancient Egypt, where,
with the help of magic earrings, a princess and her lady-in-waiting swap
identities.
Rob Schneider plays a convenience store robber, who is insulted by Jessica
Spencer (Rachel McAdams) and her friends, including April (Anna Faris, SCARY
MOVIE), her very best friend. Earlier that day, Jessica had obtained the
aforementioned earrings at a mall store. That night Jessica puts on one and
the robber puts on the other that she had dropped. When Jessica wakes up
the next morning, she is now a he and is played by Schneider. The rest of
the movie features lots of Schneider and little of McAdams, which is a shame
since she is the more interesting of the two. Actually, the best
performance in the movie is given by Adam Sandler who has a cameo as a
soft-spoken Rastafarian pot smoker who works in the shop where the earrings
were purchased.
Schneider does lots of pratfalls and prissy walking to generate laughs. As
Jessica, he wins one fight with a bar bully by literally fighting like a
girl. He also develops superhuman strength in his pillow fights with the
other girls.
The movie tries, sometimes almost successfully, to say something meaningful
about male-female relations. More often, however, it resorts to crude humor
-- Jessica's girlfriends all want to see her new male member -- and gay
jokes. When Jessica's boyfriend, Billy (Matthew Lawrence), tells his best
buddy that Jessica won't go all the way with him and that he's okay with
that, his friend laughs and tells Billy, "Wow, that is the gayest thing I've
ever heard."
When the day for the big cheer competition finally arrives, the movie tries
its best to morph into a cross-dressing BRING IT ON. I tell you this
because I suspect many of you won't be staying until the end. You certainly
don't need to.
THE HOT CHICK runs 1:41. It is rated PG-13 for "crude and sexual humor,
language and drug references" and would be acceptable for kids around 12 and
up.
Copyright © 2002 Steve Rhodes