THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 8, 1996 TAG: 9608080037
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E5 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: 44 lines
NOW THAT FRANKIE and Annette are well into middle-age, ``Phat Beach'' is here to make a case that the bikini is the most appropriate costume for summer fun. Billed, perhaps correctly, as the first hip-hop beach movie, it is more sexist than Annette would ever have tolerated. Frankie would have gotten his face slapped.
Women are treated as no more than scorecard objects by the men, while the females themselves seem more interested in cash and Mercedes convertibles than true love. Still, the flick makes no pretense about the young male audience it is seeking; it goes directly for the target, complete with several topless scenes.
The surprising thing is the poig-nant, likable nature of Benny, the overweight and lonely character played by Jermaine ``Huggy'' Hopkins. It is a role that hints the writers might actually have had some touch of human compassion - even though the ``fat jokes'' are as cruel and tasteless as those in ``The Nutty Professor.''
Benny, shockingly, is interested in poetry - an interest you'd never expect to find in this film. He's so sadly lacking in female companionship that he naively gives up his job at the House of Hamburgers, his $300 in savings and his father's cherished Mercedes auto to accompany his loud-mouthed buddy, Durrell, to the beach at Malibu.
Durrell is both cashless and carless, but he imagines himself a lady killer. As played by Brian Hooks, he is so unapologetic and brash that it's difficult to dislike him. After all, in movies such as this, boys will be boys - and that means a lot of ogling and smutty talk.
Rapper Coolio makes no more than a cameo appearance.
Hopkins and Hooks are such a contrasting comedic duo that it would be surprising if they didn't turn up on screen again. ILLUSTRATION: MOVIE REVIEW
``Phat Beach''
Cast: Jermaine ``Huggy'' Hopkins, Brian Hooks, Coolio
Director: Doug Ellin
MPAA rating: R (nudity, strong language, sexuality)
Mal's rating: two stars by CNB