A Low Down Dirty Shame

Directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans, A Low Down Dirty Shame follows a slick private investigator (Wayans’ Andre Shame) as he agrees to take on a case involving a menacing (and supposedly dead) drug lord (Andrew Divoff’s Ernesto Mendoza). It’s familiar yet promising subject matter that is, for the most part, thoroughly squandered by Wayans, as the filmmaker, armed with his own screenplay, delivers a low-rent endeavor that suffers from Wayans’ less-than-convincing lead performance and a recurring emphasis on really, really ill-fated attempts at humor – with, for example, an ongoing comedic subplot involving a wildly over-the-top gay character (Corwin Hawkins’ Wayman) emblematic of the the picture’s hopelessly, disastrously unfunny sensibilities. (This is true also of Jada Pinkett’s grating turn as Shame’s broadly-conceived and executed assistant.) There’s little doubt, then, that A Low Down Dirty Shame‘s almost passable vibe is due predominantly to its proliferation of better-than-expected action sequences and set-pieces, and it doesn’t hurt, either, that Wayans’ has elicited agreeably colorful work from his eclectic roster of periphery players (eg Divoff offers up an enjoyably broad, mustache-twirling villain). By the time the decent, relatively exciting finale rolls around, A Low Down Dirty Shame has confirmed its place as a disappointing misfire that would’ve fared a whole lot better had all its comedic elements been excised (and had Wayans cast someone else in the central role).

** out of ****