Fakin' da Funk

1997 film directed by Tim Chey

Running time
89 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglish

Fakin' da Funk is a 1997 comedy film written and directed by Tim Chey. It stars Pam Grier, Ernie Hudson, Dante Basco, Tone Loc, Margaret Cho, and Tatyana Ali. The film is about two Asian-American youths trying to adjust to a new environment in South Central Los Angeles, with one being a Chinese boy who was adopted and raised by Black parents, and the other a foreign-exchange student.

Plot

Joe and Annabelle Lee, a Black couple living in Atlanta, are thrown for a surprise when they learn the baby that they adopted is Chinese and not black. Despite the mix-up, they decide to raise the baby, Julian, as their own. After Joe's death a few years later, the family decides to uproot from Atlanta to Los Angeles.

Once in LA, Julian tries to befriend his peers, but they are perplexed that he is Asian, yet talks and acts as if he is Black. Julian is also forced to intervene when his younger brother Perry falls in with a local gang.

In a parallel plot, foreign-exchange student May-Lee similarly experiences confusion when she discovers that she is being housed with a black family in South Central.

Cast

  • Ernie Hudson as Joe Lee
  • Pam Grier as Annabelle Lee
  • Margaret Cho as May-Lee
  • Dante Basco as Julian Lee
  • Rashaan Nall as Perry Lee
  • Duane Martin as Brandon
  • John Witherspoon as Bill
  • Tone Loc as "Frog"
  • Bo Jackson as Reverend Cecil
  • Tichina Arnold as Tracy
  • Chris Spencer as Charlie
  • Kelly Hu as Kwee-Me
  • Rudy Ray Moore as Larry
  • Reynaldo Rey as Earnest
  • Nell Carter as Claire
  • Martin Chow as Sushi Chef
  • Marta Cunningham as Tracy
  • Ron Yuan as Walter "Chinese Walter"
  • Dwanye Hackett as Willie
  • Tatyana Ali as Karyn

Production

The film was shot from July 9 to August 3, 1996[1] in South Central LA.[2]

Release

The film had its world premiere in July 1997 at the Asian American International Film Festival.[3] It went on to screen at the Hamptons International Film Festival that October.[4][5] It also screened at the Urbanworld Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award,[6] and the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.[7]

The film was aired on the USA Network, where it became one of the channel's highest-rated films.[8][9]

It was released on DVD on January 4, 2000, by Image Entertainment.[10]

Reception

Brendan Kelly of Variety called the film "an energetic, highly likable comedy".[11] He added, "Chey keeps it grooving along at a good pace with lots of laughs along the way, making for a fun, if fairly light, look at a complicated subject", and though "the storytelling is a tad predictable", "the abundance of comic moments helps keep [its] feel-good message about racial harmony from becoming too earnest."[11]

Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club was more critical, writing "As in similar films—Woo, Sprung, I Got The Hook-Up, Booty Call—Fakin' Da Funk derives humor from exactly three sources: people insulting one another's parentage, random pop-culture references, and various misunderstandings concerning cultural differences."[12]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Fakin' Da Funk - Miscellaneous Notes". Turner Classic Movie Database. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
  2. ^ "Festival Roundup". Filmmaker. No. Winter 1998. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
  3. ^ Dauphin, Gary (July 20, 1997). "Crossed Cultures". Village Voice. Archived from the original on May 24, 2011. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
  4. ^ "Hamptons '97: The final word". IndieWire. October 6, 1997. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
  5. ^ Gussow, Mel (October 15, 1997). "Hamptons Film Festival Just Keeps On Growing". The New York Times. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
  6. ^ "An Urban World". IndieWire. August 28, 1997. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
  7. ^ Topel, Fred (May 21, 2012). "Dante 'Rufio' Basco on the Asian Pacific Film Fest and the Hook Prequel". Mandatory. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
  8. ^ "Legislation to limelight". Daily Bruin. November 8, 2007. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
  9. ^ Feng, Peter X. (2002). Identities in Motion: Asian American Film and Video. Duke University Press. p. 212. ISBN 978-0822329961.
  10. ^ "Fakin' Da Funk - Releases". AllMovie. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
  11. ^ a b Kelly, Brendan (November 1, 1997). "Review: 'Fakin' Da Funk'". Variety. Retrieved April 5, 2017.
  12. ^ Rabin, Nathan (March 29, 2002). "Fakin' Da Funk". The A.V. Club. Retrieved February 6, 2023.