''Underclassman'' is a 2005 American

action comedy film The action comedy is a film genre that applies to action films where humor plays a much more central role. While early films feature stuntwork and humor, academic Cynthia King wrote that the genre only came into its own as a mainstay of the Americ ...

directed by

Marcos Siega Marcos Siega (born June 8, 1969, in New York City) is a film, television, commercial and music video director. He has also worked as a producer, a musician and an artist. Career In the late 1980s, he helped to form the New York–based punk band ...

and starring

Nick Cannon Nicholas Scott Cannon (born October 8, 1980) is an American comedian, television presenter, actor, and rapper. In television, he began his career as a teenager on Nickelodeon's '' All That'' before going on to host '' The Nick Cannon Show'', '' ...

Shawn Ashmore Shawn Robert Ashmore (born October 7, 1979) is a Canadian actor whose career spans film, television, and interactive media. A former child actor, he first drew notice as Jake Berenson on Nickelodeon's ''Animorphs'' (1998–1999), Tyler Connell ...

Roselyn Sánchez Roselyn Milagros Sánchez Rodríguez (born April 2, 1973) is a Puerto Rican singer-songwriter, dancer, model, actress, producer, and writer. On television, she is best known for her roles as Elena Delgado on the CBS police procedural ''Without ...

Kelly Hu Kelly Ann Hu (born February 13, 1968) is an American actress. She starred as Dr. Rae Chang on the American television soap opera '' Sunset Beach'' and as Michelle Chan on the American television police drama series '' Nash Bridges''. She has st ...

Hugh Bonneville Hugh Richard Bonniwell Williams (born 10 November 1963), known professionally as Hugh Bonneville, is an English actor. He is best known for portraying Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, in the ITV historical drama series ''Downton Abbey'' from ...

, and

Cheech Marin Richard Anthony "Cheech" Marin (born July 13, 1946) is an American comedian and actor. He gained recognition as part of the comedy act Cheech & Chong during the 1970s and early 1980s with Tommy Chong, and as Don Johnson's partner, Insp. Joe Dom ...

. It was released on September 2, 2005, had been originally set for a release in 2004. The film was a critical and box office disaster, receiving only a 6% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

and grossing $5.6 million on a production budget of $25,000,000.

Plot

Tracy "Tre" Stokes (

) is a 23-year-old bike cop working for the

Los Angeles Police Department The City of Los Angeles Police Department, commonly referred to as Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), is the primary law enforcement agency of Los Angeles, California, United States. With 8,832 officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the th ...

. Tre dreams of being a police detective, like his late father, but his mentor Captain Delgado (

) believes he is not ready based on his reckless behavior. While playing basketball, Delgado is approached by a representative of the Mayor's office looking to place an undercover detective into the prestigious Westbury School after a student was killed at a party. Tre volunteers to go undercover, and Delgado reluctantly agrees to give him a chance. Tre's mark is Rob Donovan (

), whose name was written on a piece of paper at the scene of the crime. Attempting to befriend Rob on the basketball court after school, Tre learns about a local basketball tournament, the Blacktop Battle, which Rob is captaining for Westbury. Tre arrives at the Blacktop Battle where Westbury is being handily defeated by their crosstown rival. Joining the game, Tre wins the game and impresses Rob, but antagonizing his friends with his selfish play. The next day Tre learns of a party at the marina that Rob routinely throws, and shows up with a borrowed jetski for a race. When a former student and rival of Rob's shows up at the party there is a fight and Tre and Rob are thrown in jail where they form a bond. Tre soon discovers that at every high school party in the area a luxury car seems to be stolen. Tre plans a sting involving throwing his own party at Captain Delgado's home using the Captain's prized '65 Corvette Stingray, Juanita, as bait. Tre sees Rob steal the car, but allows him to escape instead of stopping him, resulting on him getting fired from the force. Continuing the investigation himself, Tre discovers that the cars have been housed at a warehouse on campus and that Rob and his friends have been forced to steal the cars against their will. Headmaster Felix Powers (

), realizing Tre is an undercover cop, enlists his co-conspirators to kidnap and murder Tre at the Blacktop Battle championship game. Tre is abducted along with Karen and they are brought to the campus warehouse to be killed while Powers goes to the docks to trade the stolen vehicles for drugs. Tre, with the help of backup, escapes and interrupts Powers’ drug deal and rescues Karen. Tre then kills Powers during a high speed boat chase in the harbor. In the end Tre graduates high school and is reinstated to the force.

Cast

as Tracy "Tre" Stokes *

as Karen Lopez *

as Lisa Brooks *

Ian Gomez Ian Braque Gomez (born December 27, 1964) is an American actor known for his comedic TV work, which includes series-regular roles as Javier on '' Felicity'' and Andy on ''Cougar Town''. Early life He was born in New York City to a dancer mother ...

as Det. Gallecki *

as Rob Donovan *

as Headmaster Felix Powers *

as Captain Victor Delgado * Johnny Lewis as Alexander Jeffries *Angelo Spizzirri as David Boscoe *Vishiss as Edward Murdock *Adrian Young as Jose *

Don McManus Don McManus (sometimes credited as Don R. McManus) is an American actor. Born in San Diego, California, he is a graduate of Yale University. Career McManus's film credits include ''Vice'', ''Grand Piano'', '' Under the Silver Lake'', '' The Ma ...

as Julian Reynolds *

Mary Pat Gleason Mary Pat Gleason (February 23, 1950 – June 2, 2020) was an American film and television actress and an Emmy Award-winning writer. From 1983 to 1985, she appeared as "Jane Hogan" on the daytime soap opera ''Guiding Light'', for which she was als ...

as Mrs. Hagerty *

Peter Bryant Peter Bryant (27 October 1923 – 19 May 2006) was an English television producer, script editor and former actor. He acted in '' The Grove Family'' as a regular cast member and later became the producer of '' Doctor Who'' from 1967 to 19 ...

as Michael Barry * Sam Easton as Oliver Horn * Kaylee DeFer as Des *

Terry Chen Terence Chen (born February 3, 1975) is a Canadian actor. Early life Chen was born on February 3, 1975, in Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the ...

as Sleepy Morris *

Jamie Kaler Jamie Kaler (born September 14, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian and actor who has gained fame by portraying the character Mike Callahan on the TBS comedy ''My Boys''. Career Kaler hosted '' America: Facts vs. Fiction'' on American Heroes ...

as Beach Police Officer *

Ben Cotton Ben Cotton (born July 26, 1975) is a Canadian film and television actor. His most notable roles are on the TV series ''Stargate Atlantis'' playing scientist Dr. Kavanagh, his portrayal of "Leon Bell" in the game Dead Rising 2, Shane Pierce, the ...

as Raver * Zak Santiago as Anderson * Dan Shea as Weston * Sarah Jane Morris as Jamie (uncredited)

Production

In June 2003, music video director Marcos Siega was announced as director of ''Underclassman''. Shawn Ashmore joined the cast in August 2003.

Reception

Box office

''Underclassman'' was released on

Labor Day Labor Day is a Federal holidays in the United States, federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday of September to honor and recognize the Labor history of the United States, American labor movement and the works and con ...

weekend (September 2) in 2005, and performed poorly at the box office opening at number 11 with $3,393,610. Overall ''Underclassman'' earned just $5,655,459 against a budget of $25 million in seven weeks of release.

Critical response

''Underclassman'' received universal negative reviews from critics. On

, only 6% of the critics gave it positive write-ups with the consensus: "Despite the appealing presence of Nick Cannon, ''Underclassman'' is a shopworn knockoff of both ''

Beverly Hills Cop ''Beverly Hills Cop'' is a 1984 American buddy cop action comedy film directed by Martin Brest, with a screenplay by Daniel Petrie Jr., and story by Danilo Bach and Daniel Petrie Jr. It stars Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley, a street-smart Det ...

'' and ''

21 Jump Street ''21 Jump Street'' is an American police procedural drama television series created by Patrick Hasburgh and Stephen J. Cannell for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It aired from April 12, 1987 to April 27, 1991, spanning 103 episodes over five s ...

''." On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

the film has received 20 poor and 5 medium reviews for an overall score of 19. ''Underclassman'' is currently the sixth worst reviewed film on Metacritic released in 2005.

References

External links

* * * {{Marcos Siega 2005 films 2005 comedy-drama films 2000s high school films 2000s police comedy films 2000s teen comedy films American comedy-drama films American crime comedy films American high school films American police detective films American teen comedy films Fictional portrayals of the Los Angeles Police Department Films directed by Marcos Siega Films scored by BT (musician) Films set in Los Angeles Films shot in Vancouver Miramax films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films English-language comedy-drama films English-language crime comedy films