What were the Weinstein's thinking?

Underclassman (2005)

Something's not right here. This cop comedy comes from Miramax Films. When you take a look at their catalog, it is oddly out of place.

Nick Cannon stars as a relatively new up and comer on the force, working bike patrol. Looking to get himself more established, especially as a detective, he volunteers for an undercover job at a local high school. A reporter for the school paper was killed but the police just wanna get a closer look and make sure it wasn't murder.

The comedy comes in as Detective Tre Stokes (Nick Cannon) -- a new black kid in school -- tries to fit into the rich white kids world. Everything related to that is purely expected and has been done before a gazillion times over. Tre gets in with who he suspects killed the reporter, falls in love with a teacher, and in the end, surprise, is the hero.

Cheech Marin, as police chief, unfortunately didn't shine like he is totally capable of. Shawn Ashmore and Kelly Hu also costar.

While the whole thing was so contrived and simplistic, it wasn't boring. At the end the viewer is treated to a big exciting chase scene a la Die Hard & Lethal Weapon madness. Really the preceding 85 minutes or so was worth it just to see how it all wraps up. Thankfully up until that point, even in its idiocy, what was put to film was mildly entertaining, enough to keep my interest. Overall Underclassman is a harmless comedy that wasn't a waste of an hour and a half. Not the greatest movie to watch but eh, not horrible either.