Summary
-
White Chicks
has become a Netflix streaming hit in the United States, - The movie is No. 6 on the Netflix chart for the week.
- Although some of the movie’s comedy has not aged well, the intervening 20 years have been kind to the 2004 movie’s supporting cast.
White Chicks is now a Netflix hit in the United States. The movie, which originally premiered in 2004, was directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans and stars Shawn and Marlon Wayans as disgraced FBI agents who go undercover as white women to infiltrate a socialite gathering in the Hamptons and stop a kidnapper. Although the White Chicks movie was a modest commercial success, earning $113.1 million against its $37 million budget, it was widely rejected by critics, earning a grim 15% score on the review aggregator service Rotten Tomatoes and eventually being nominated for five Razzie awards.
Netflix has now calculated their Top 10 most-watched movies in the United States for the week of August 5 through August 11. White Chicks has landed on the chart at No. 6, just above the 2024 sleeper hit Tarot, which debuted on the chart the previous week at No. 5. It is the second-oldest movie on the entire chart, behind only the Mike Myers vehicle Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat, which premiered in 2003.
Time Has Been Kind To The White Chicks Supporting Cast
Not Every Element Of White Chicks Has Aged As Well
It may come as a surprise that White Chicks is performing well on the streaming platform, as the movie’s outlandish comic stylings have left it open to much scrutiny in the intervening 20 years and many elements of its humor have not aged well, which may be one reason the possible White Chicks 2 has never come to fruition. However, in addition to viewers’ comedy tastes being subjective, the movie’s performance on Netflix may be boosted by the fact that the intervening 20 years have been extraordinarily kind to much of its supporting cast.
For instance, Busy Phillips, who played socialite Karen Googlestein, has recently scored another Netflix hit with the musical sitcom Girls5eva in addition to prominent recent roles in Mean Girls (2024), Vice Principals, and Cougar Town. Other White Chicks cast members who went on to even more prominent roles after appearing in the movie include Jennifer Carpenter, who went on to play Debra Morgan in Dexter and Terry Crews, who would later play both Julius Rock in Everybody Hates Chris and Terry Jeffords in Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
In
Mean Girls
, Busy Phillips played Regina George’s mother, the character played in the original teen classic by Amy Poehler.
By being packed with cast members from bingeable, long-running shows to come, White Chicks may have secured its status as a cult comedy even further. Ultimately, it remains to be seen if the movie stays on the chart longer than a week, but if it continues to climb, producers may begin to take notice much like they did with the acquired streaming hit Suits, which recently earned a spinoff. This means that the 20-year-old comedy’s long-gestating sequel may finally come closer to fruition than it ever has.
Source: Netflix
White Chicks
White Chicks is a comedy film directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans. Released in 2004, the story follows FBI agents Kevin and Marcus Copeland, played by Shawn and Marlon Wayans, who go undercover as white women to protect socialite heirs from a kidnapping plot. The film notably combines elements of crime investigation and humorous identity swaps, focusing on the agents’ comedic challenges while disguised in their new roles.
- Director
- Keenen Ivory Wayans
- Release Date
- June 23, 2004
- Writers
- Keenen Ivory Wayans , Shawn Wayans , Marlon Wayans , Andrew McElfresh , Michael Anthony Snowden , Xavier Cook
- Cast
- Marlon Wayans , Shawn Wayans , Busy Philipps , Maitland Ward , Jaime King , Frankie Faison , Lochlyn Munro , John Heard
- Runtime
- 109 Minutes
