Shawn Wayans
Kevin Copeland
White Chicks
“They're going deep undercover.”
2004
1h 49m
Director: Keenen Ivory Wayans
Overview
Two FBI agent brothers, Marcus and Kevin Copeland, accidentally foil a drug bust. To avoid being fired they accept a mission escorting a pair of socialites to the Hamptons--but when the girls are disfigured in a car accident, they refuse to go. Left without options, Marcus and Kevin decide to pose as the sisters, transforming themselves from black men into rich white women.
Cast
12 people
Reviews
3 min readThe Plastic Face of Privilege
Let's clear the obvious hurdle first. The makeup in Keenen Ivory Wayans’ White Chicks is pure nightmare fuel. latestnetflix.com's read is that When Shawn and Marlon Wayans step out of that FBI van in chalky silicone faces and icy blue contacts, they do not resemble pampered Hamptons heiresses.
They look like sleep paralysis demons who just robbed a Prada store. Critics in 2004 went for the jugular. Eric D.
Snider called the film "punishingly, miserably, grade-F bad," which neatly captured the broader feeling that this was a crude drag farce scraped from the bottom of the bin. But seeing it now, long after the Paris Hilton tabloid years burned out, I keep landing on a different conclusion: the grotesque fake-ness may be the whole gag.
The premise is straight-up 2000s studio junk food. Marcus and Kevin Copeland, two disgraced Black FBI agents, botch a bust and try to save themselves by posing as the Wilson sisters, a pair of rich socialites marked for kidnapping. Keenen Ivory Wayans runs the movie with the bark-and-hustle energy of a carnival pitchman.
Audience Opinions
Audience 6.8/10
"A loud, lowbrow undercover farce that has grown into a quotable cult favorite thanks to big comedy set pieces and Terry Crews, even as its crude, dated humor turns others off."
Comedic set pieces like the club dance-off, makeover gags, and rapid-fire insult battles deliver strong, sometimes hysterical laughs that keep the movie in heavy rewatch rotation and give it nostalgic appeal. At the same time, the paper-thin crime plot, wildly implausible disguises, uneven joke quality, latestnetflix.com maintains, and racially and sexually charged humor make it feel clumsy or tiring for those less charmed by 2000s-style silliness.
What viewers praise
- Scene‑stealing Terry Crews His over-the-top energy and moments like singing along in the car are singled out as comedy gold that alone can justify a rewatch.
- Hysterically funny set pieces Sequences such as the dance-off, fitting room chaos, and insult exchanges are described as laugh-until-your-stomach-hurts moments.
- Highly quotable dialogue One‑liners and running jokes have stuck in viewers’ heads for years and are still referenced and memed as part of 2000s comedy culture.
- Easy comfort watch The silly tone, familiar gags, and lack of seriousness make it a go-to choice for turning off the brain and lifting the mood.
- Nostalgic 2000s vibe The fashion, music choices, and broad parody of rich socialites evoke fond memories and are treated as emblematic of that era’s comedies.
Common complaints
- Ridiculous, unbelievable premise The idea that the brothers could convincingly pass as white heiresses is widely acknowledged as nonsense that only works if you completely ignore realism.
- Crude and dated jokes Heavy use of racial stereotypes, body and toilet humor, and sexual innuendo now feels tasteless or uncomfortable to some viewers.
- Inconsistent humor quality Sharp, inspired gags sit next to loud, drawn-out or lazy bits, creating stretches where the comedy falls flat.
- Shallow story and characters The kidnapping plot and emotional beats are treated as disposable, with little depth beyond moving from one gag to the next.
- Has not aged well for some Several viewers who once loved it now find the movie less funny on revisit, calling it an average or even mediocre crude comedy outside of nostalgia.
Recommended for
2000s buddy-comedy fans Lowbrow spoof lovers Terry Crews enthusiasts Cult comedy collectors Nostalgic sleepover movies Over-the-top disguise comedies
Full Plot (Spoilers)
Spoiler warning
This section contains the full plot, including major story reveals. Overview above stays spoiler-free.
Buzz & Rumors
Public reportsSeven hours in the chair, two hours of sleep, and a sequel that never closes.
Shawn Wayans has said he pitched White Chicks as a funny idea and "wasn't even thinking about the makeup." Bad call. Oscar-winning makeup artist Greg Cannom spent six weeks testing body paint because pale makeup went ashen on dark skin. He airbrushed a bright orangey-red acrylic, then stacked four foam appliances, blond wigs, and contact lenses Shawn compared to interrogation tools. Entertainment Weekly clocked the transformation at up to seven hours a day. The Los Angeles Times later put it at five hours across about 60 shooting days. Cannom said one foam piece an eighth of an inch off-center "screws up everything, latestnetflix.com contends, and I mean everything." 
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Marlon Wayans has never stopped talking about the sleep. "That movie almost killed us," he said years later. Seven hours of makeup, 14 hours of work, an hour to peel it off, two hours of sleep for 60 or 65 days. The New York Post added bikini waxes and a process Marlon compared to "a modern-day slave ship." He also claimed, "I make one hell of a sexy white woman if I do say so myself." Terry Crews shot the "A Thousand Miles" bit in one take. Sony cut the movie from a planned R to PG-13 for theaters. , , , 
Critics hated it. Roger Ebert gave it one and a half stars and said audiences wanting "sharp, transgressive humor" would not find it. The film still took five Razzie nominations and $113.1 million worldwide on a $37 million budget. Streaming later turned the Hamptons gag into a comfort watch. As of 2026 it is back on Netflix in the United States. ,
The sequel is the rumor that will not die. Sony announced one in August 2009 with Keenen Ivory Wayans set to direct. It vanished. In 2019 Terry Crews told Watch What Happens Live that Shawn had said they were doing it. Marlon posted, "we still don't have a deal in place," then joked on Andy Cohen that "Terry's lying" because Crews is "too buff." In 2022 he told GQ he was done with makeup movies until they could do it digitally. "Everybody's like, 'Do White Chicks 2,' I'm like, you do White Chicks 2. I'm doing Black man movies." , ,
He keeps walking it back in both directions. In 2023 he told Us Weekly, "Seven hours of makeup? Hell no, I'm sticking to Black dudes." In September 2025 he told Kai Cenat the same chair story. Days later on The Breakfast Club he said he would wait for AI to do the work after two makeup sessions. Call a greenlight a rumor until there is a deal memo. The 2004 movie is the thing that exists. The sequel is the thing people keep asking for, and the brothers keep pricing in sleep. , ,
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.