Thoughts on the 2007 comedy: Whos Your Caddy?


 

This was the official website for the 2007 comedy film, Who's Your Caddy? The film was nominated for 2007 Razzie Awards: Worst Remake or Rip-Off. Rotten Tomatoes critics gave it a 6% on their Tomatometer, but audiences were more forgiving with a 59%.
Content is from the site's archived pages, as well as from other outside sources.

 



Who's Your Caddy? Trailer

Rating: PG-13 (for crude and sexual content, some nudity, language and drug material)
Genre: Comedy
Directed By:    Don Michael Paul
Written By:     Bradley Allenstein, Don Michael Paul, Robert Henny, Bradley Adelstein
In Theaters:     Jul 27, 2007  Wide
On Disc/Streaming:    Nov 27, 2007
Runtime:         92 minutes
Studio: Dimension Films

 

When a high-profile hip-hop star is denied membership into an exclusive country club in the Hamptons, he comes up with a cunning plan to subvert the questionable ruling in this comedy of manners starring OutKast's Antwan Andre Patton. By purchasing property directly adjacent to the 18th hole, popular rapper C-Note (Patton) is subsequently granted membership into the haughty club by default. As the curmudgeonly club members make it their mission in life to get him kicked out, the clever rapper infuses the stodgy old club with new life. Andy Milonakis, Jeffrey Jones, and Faizon Love co-star.

Rating:1.7 out of 10 / movie-roulette.com/

Plot Summary:Hip-hop hilarity ensues when millionaire rap star C-Note (Outkast's Antwan Andre Patton) decides to apply for membership at the snooty Carolina golf and polo club where his dad once worked as a caddy. Club president Mr. Cummings (Jeffrey Jones) seethes with hostility but his nymphomaniac wife (Susan Ward) takes a shine to C-Note's buddy, Big Large (Faizon Love) and Cumming's portly rap loving son is thrilled, encouraging C-Note to "beat my dad." Romantic potential surfaces with a cute African American lawyer (Tamala Jones), hired by Cummings to find legal ways to deny C-Note membership. Later, Cummings employs a little person assassin named Big Willie Johnson (BAD SANTA's Tony Cox) to get rid of C-Note, "permanently." Devotees of cult golf comedy CADDYSHACK (1980) will feel most at ease over this bumpy course, especially when Garrett Morris--a compatriot of CADDYSHACK star Bill Murray in the original SNL-- shows up in a hilarious bit as a flashy reverend-lawyer. Before the big final golf match there's time for a bootylicious cook-out, a cruise in C-Note's pimped-up, no2-powered golf cart, some tough love with the moms (Jennifer Lewis); and lots of laughs via the obnoxious good humor of C-Note's crew: Dread (Finesse Mitchell); the most-sassy Lady G. (Sherri Shepherd); and the aforementioned (and very gaseous) Big Large. Aside from a late night strip club visit and some drug humor, this is fairly safe--if malodorous--fun for most of the family, with some good messages and even some real reverence for the game of golf.

 


 

"Working on "Who's Your Caddy?" was an absolute blast from start to finish! Imagine being part of a crew where laughter was the order of the day, every day. It's not every project you find yourself in a sea of Joker t-shirts because, why not? We decided to embrace our inner "jokers," a nickname our set manager unwittingly bestowed upon us - the shirts became our unofficial uniform. The day he finally noticed, we welcomed him to the club with his very own shirt. Though he played hard to get, promising to wear it "at an appropriate time," he kept us in suspense until the wrap party. Despite his initial refusal, he sported his Joker tee at the cast party, under a dress jacket no less. There he was, the ultimate Joker, blending high fashion with high jest. That moment, that movie, was all about embracing the fun, the unexpected, and a crew that turned a film set into a comedy central." Loril James

 

"Although all my friends panned this film, I am a fan of Big Boi and he's the reason I'm writing this supportive note. I completely identify with his character and how he ends up being the social weirdo who is the target of so much unkindness, when he himself has shown incredible kindness. In real life I'm aware that he not only volunteered at an animal shelter, but also rescued a number of dogs off the street. He then found them homes and incentivized those willing to adopt them by paying for the necessary shots and licenses. He even contributed some designer dog beds to the families who took them in. Working with Jon Hansen, the veterinarian, he advocates for healthy diets and supports partnerships with organizations across the country that provide information and suggestions for the proper care of pets. The dog beds are part of this healthy atmosphere he preaches because many rescue dogs have never slept on their own bed. The fact that he purchases luxury dog beds for them is incidental - he just happens to like these round beds for practical reasons, not for their priciness - check out his source. Those designer fabric covers are washable - which he considers a necessary feature for dog beds. Anyway his kindness toward others and especially animals is on top of his talents on screen and I urge people to take another look this film in that light." Edi Ho

 

"I sat through a private screening of this flick and was enjoying its ridiculousness when a wealthy couple next to me started talking about a fraud perpetrated against them. I was completely distracted and could not help overhearing how someone named George had ripped them off for over $60,000. They actually thought the thief was a good guy and had disappeared because he fell terribly ill. (Boy what suckers!!) But then, when the press starts reporting on the story, the couple are horrified that the story shows them to be so gullible. In Google searches for their name, the ripoff shows up right at the top of the search results. So they pay $3,000 a month to have a reputation management service attempt to hide the embarrassing results. Six months later the results are still on page one of Google, so they fire the service and hire a search results removal specialist. People who have social connections must keep their names away from embarrassing search results! The new company does eventually succeed and the privileged are saved by their pocketbooks from bad Google results. Turns out this overheard convo was way more interesting than this flick, so I feel my time was def not wasted! Saw the film later on tv and yep, not worth it." JPR

 



REVIEWS

 

 

Caddy: 18 Holes, Plus the Ones in the Script

By John Maynard
Washington Post Staff Writer 
Saturday, July 28, 2007

Black people playing golf? Outrageous!

 



Chase Tatum, left, Faizon Love, Big Boi and Finesse Mitchell tear up conventions (but keep the clothes) on the golf course in "Who's Your Caddy?" (Dimension Films)

That seems to be the unbelievably lame setup of "Who's Your Caddy?," an offensive, comedy-free comedy about a world-famous rapper (OutKast's Antwan "Big Boi" Patton) who joins a stuffy (read: white) country club.

The film goes for laughs and doesn't get any, as the rapper, known as C-Note, and his unruly entourage wreak all kinds of havoc upon the exclusive club that won't even accept Bill Clinton as a member (a bad joke early in the movie).

Sure enough, C-Note shows up for his first tee time in a helicopter with his record label's name, Killah Ink, emblazoned on the side. The golf cart he rides around in is something that might have been assembled on MTV's "Pimp My Ride," complete with spinning hubcaps and a souped-up engine.

Oh, and he directs a racy rap video with booty-shaking babes on the golf course's 17th hole.

See, country club members, this is what happens when you let in the wrong element!

Eventually, the club's head honcho (a puffy Jeffrey Jones, best known as the ginger-haired principal in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off") is forced to accept C-Note and his posse, though Jones's character does everything in his power to revoke their membership, including arranging to get the rapper killed by pimp-like midget hitmen (which sounds funnier than it is).

The racial stereotyping is a constant. C-Note's hangers-on include a dreadlocked member (Finesse Mitchell) who fixes a polo match by getting one of the horses high on "skunk weed." Big Large (Faizon Love) speaks openly about his superior male anatomy and distracts opposing golfers with a noise that 5-year-olds will find hilarious.

The movie is jam-packed with failed gags, eliciting sounds of resigned silence from yesterday's small matinee audience, save for one man who we can only guess is the biggest Faizon Love fan on the planet. It's the type of comedy that relies on plenty of bathroom humor and the inevitable golf-ball-landing-in-the-crotch scene.

Surprisingly, we do find out late in the film that there is a rather touching reason why C-Note wants membership in the country club -- it involves his late father. But any time the plot veers close to exploring this could-be-poignant plot line, we're lost again in predictable physical comedy and booty jokes in a movie that would make Tiger Woods cringe.

Who's Your Caddy? (93 minutes, area theaters) is rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content, some nudity, profanity and drug content.

 

 

WHO'S YOUR CADDY?

  • Directed by Don Michael Paul
  • Comedy /Sport
  • PG-13
  • 1h 33m

RACHEL SALTZ / JULY 28, 2007 /www.nytimes.com

There’s probably more wit and pointed social commentary in the average four-minute OutKast song than in the entirety of “Who’s Your Caddy?” (extra points, though, for the title), a comedy starring OutKast’s Big Boi, a k a Antwan Patton.

Here he plays C-Note (a k a Christopher Hawkins), a hip-hop mogul who wants to join the Carolina Pines country club. Bill Clinton, his presidency called “an unfortunate accident,” is among recent rejectees.

“Caddy” bills itself as a battle of “the street vs. the elite,” but mainly it’s hip-hop bad behavior vs. dumb-white-people bad behavior. On the elite side, there’s the club president, played by Jeffrey Jones, a villain who comes in for more than his share of actor abuse (blows to the groin, horse manure). The street, of course, is C-Note and his crew.

One problem: C-Note went to Dartmouth (major: business; minor: English), which is about as street as, well, the Carolina Pines. You’d think this college boy would be savvier about storming the gates of privilege. Instead he lands on the grounds in a helicopter, blares music from his pimped-out golf cart and keeps his crew with him at all times to crack bad jokes and pass vast quantities of gas. (In a twist, members of the club seem to love all this.)

Big Boi is a likable actor who projects the warmth and intelligence that the script lacks. But he doesn’t provide much comic oomph.

In OutKast he has always played the hip-hop tough guy, the straight man (in every sense) to André 3000’s peacock lover boy.

But here he is in full André drag — C-Note’s puffy plaid knickers, newsboy cap and vest are a version of André’s getup in the “Hey Ya!” video — in a film that could desperately use a dose of André’s antic lunacy.

“Who’s Your Caddy?” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). It has strong language, a confusing script and a sidekick who feeds a horse marijuana.

 

 

Who's Your Caddy?

Review by David Cornelius | posted December 6, 2007

A colossus of ineptitude and inanity, "Who's Your Caddy?" is the sort of film Homer Simpson might watch, perhaps on a triple bill with "Hail to the Chimp" and "The School of Hard Knockers." One half expects Troy McClure to walk into frame.

It's not enough that the damn thing is overflowing with terrible acting, amateurish direction, and a screenplay that clumsily combines groan-inducing stereotypes, painful dialogue, limp slapstick, and tiresome fart jokes. No, the defining moment of "Who's Your Caddy?" - indeed, one of the dumbest scenes you will ever see in your lifetime - comes late in the film, when we get to see a main character washing a golf cart in the rain. It's the sort of thing that demands a triple take, and not only does DVD allow you to do just such a thing, but you can also check out the director's commentary to hear the explanation. Yay!

According to Don Michael Paul (he also co-wrote the script, lucky us), it started raining before the shoot, time was tight, and the decision was made to film the scene anyway. Now, one wonders why the character would still be washing the golf cart, considering. After all, there's nothing in the dialogue referring to the chore (it's just two guys talking about the plot; they could be standing anywhere), and any semi-skilled director would easily find a way to rework the scene accordingly. Not Don Michael Paul, who previously gave us "Half Past Dead;" who broke through in the business with his screenplay for "Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man;" whose acting career landed him plum roles in "Alien from L.A.," "Robot Wars," and "Rolling Vengeance;" who genuinely believes his best current career move is to make a comedy called "Who's Your Caddy?" Paul, perhaps stymied by the mere notion of logic, opted to film the scene exactly as written, rain or not, and his defense on the commentary is along the lines of "I didn't think anyone would notice." I am reminded that Ed Wood didn't think anyone would notice cardboard tombstones falling over, too.

So you see the sort of movie we have on hand, and that's just the technical angle. (The whole thing's smothered in awkward editing and piss-poor framing, but such things seem incidental compared to bigger problems, like, well, everything else.)

The script (Paul co-wrote with Brandley Allenstein, whose only other screen credit is "Juwanna Mann," and first-time scribe Robert Henny, who at least did not write "Juwanna Mann") comes off like a parody of hackneyed comedy - the whole thing hinges on lazy black-people-are-different-than-white-people stand-up comedy set-ups, and it's a sitcom premise that makes one wish for the subtleties of the distressingly similarly rappers-go-to-Harvard crapfest "How High."

Antwan "Big Boi" Patton, perhaps looking to completely ditch any credibility he gets from being a member of Outkast, stars as Christopher "C-Note" Hawkins, a rap superstar who just moved in next door to an exclusive country club run by snooty white guy Dick Cummings (a permanently mortified Jeffrey Jones; even if you include both "Howard the Duck" and the child porn conviction, this movie still remains the worst thing he's ever done - and he always looks like he knows it). C-Note has a love for golf and more or less uses extortion to gain club membership, but he also has an agenda: years ago, Christopher's dad was Cummings' caddy, and when he broke Cummings' club record for the golf course, Cummings accused him of fraud.

For a slapstick comedy so dependent on weed jokes and pratfalls (yes, there is a shot of Jeffrey Jones falling face-first into horse dung), it's kind of embarrassing to see the writers also attempt heartfelt drama. We get repeated flashbacks to C-Note's youth, via washed-out 8mm home movies of father and son on the golf course; the flashbacks gets cranked into high gear during a "this one's for you, dad" finale that fails at every attempt at seriousness.

There's also a potential love interest between Christopher and Shannon (Tamala Jones), the lawyer Cummings hires to try to get rid of the rapper. After a scene or two of flirting and almost-kissing, this storyline falls by the wayside, as if lost in the clutter of other plot threads. (Also completely abandoned: a subplot involving heartfelt advice from C-Note's mother, played by Jenifer Lewis. Her scenes, possibly all filmed in one quick afternoon, are dropped into the story so randomly and with such little effect on the rest of the picture that one wonders if they were on loan from another film.)

The remaining bits form a sort of half-assed "Caddyshack" wannabe (although it can't even reach the non-heights of "Caddyshack II"). C-Note befriends a young caddy (the outstandingly named Cam Gigandet) with hidden golf skills; the rapper's entourage (including Faizon Love, Finesse Mitchell, and the hideously shrill "View" co-host Sherri "The Earth Is Flat" Shepherd, who manages to remember all her lines, bless her semi-retarded heart) causes havoc at the club by being loud and obnoxious; the caddies (James Avery and Bruce Bruce among them) engage in random, worthless antics; the white folks at the club learn to lighten up; a horse eats a bag of marijuana, then falls over; Jeffrey Jones gets punched in the crotch; etc. The whole thing wraps up with a showdown on the course, with Cummings and a pro ringer facing off against C-Note and the caddy.

The showdown's a complete waste, but then, what did you expect? Earlier on, the script delivers a lengthy set-up showcasing the young caddy's trick shot abilities. The logical step, then, would be to put those skills to use for the finale, with the guy landing a last-chance moment mirroring the earlier trick. But no. Instead, his efforts in the game amount to nothing, and it's up to C-Note to deliver the potentially game-winning stroke. (Cue the out-of-place sports drama anthem and the home movie flashbacks!)

I haven't even mentioned the midget hitmen or the seemingly endless rap video interludes or the unbearable appearance by the terminally unfunny Andy Milonakis, who plays Cummings hip hop-obsessed son. Nor have I mentioned the endless reliance on a loathsome worldview (old white people are stuffy, black people are loud and rude, women are sex objects, gay people are swishy fools, intelligence and dignity should be shoved aside in favor of bling and attitude) that leads to a movie without a single redeeming, or even tolerable, character. Nor have I lamented that this is a movie whose best idea of comedy is to name the villain "Dick Cummings," because, I dunno, Johnson von Orgasm and Insipid Double Entendre were taken.

The DVD

Video & Audio


As expected with a movie this new, the anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) transfer is quite solid; Paul fills his movie with filler shots of lovely sunsets and lush greens, and the colors pop. However, if you're not watching on a progressive scan system, you'll notice a great amount of aliasing problems and general jaggedness throughout - keep an eye on all that argyle.

The soundtrack, presented in Dolby 5.1, is a workable, problem-free mix, with the constant use of music never overwhelming the dialogue. Optional English and Spanish subtitles are offered.

Extras

As mentioned above, Paul appears on a commentary track, along with Faison Love. To their credit, the two discuss the movie's critical reception, with Paul often second guessing potential racial punchlines; he admits the joke in which a dreadlocked Finesse Mitchell feeds weed to a horse probably wasn't a good idea. Love, meanwhile, defends every joke and dismisses any grumblings over racism as coming from stuffy critics who don't know how to laugh. (He insists Alfred Hitchcock once told Ingrid Bergman to not sweat a key scene because "it's only a fucking movie." I wonder if Love was paraphrasing there.) The two spend a lot of time complaining about critics in general (unaware, it seems, that the general public also hates the flick - it currently sits at number two on IMDB's reader poll of the worst movies of all time) while sincerely believing they've made a genuinely funny, well-made motion picture. (They even pause to laugh at their own jokes.) Most depressing is a moment when both insist a tenth-place opening weekend at the box office isn't as bad as it sounds, and at least their movie made more cash than "Daddy Day Camp." It all makes for one of the most delightfully deluded commentaries ever recorded.



A small collection of deleted scenes (4:24 total) reveal that yes, there were scenes bad enough to get cut from "Who's Your Caddy?"

The making-of featurette (14:58) is divided into three short parts. The first and second are both very rambling, with EPK-style interviews sloppily pasted together with behind-the-scenes footage; vague themes include Big Boi learning how to play golf (from the pitifully mismatched editing in the movie, it looks like he never really learned), Faison Love being a hoot on the set (he runs around in between takes with no shirt on! hilarious!!), and everyone being afraid of a scene involving a helicopter. The third section details Our Stories, a new production house from the founder of BET; this film is their debut effort. The company name has a hint of irony to it, as within a year, these folks probably won't be so eager to claim possession of "Who's Your Caddy?"

The movie's trailer (2:20) is also included. A separate set of previews plays as the disc loads; you can skip over them if you choose.

All bonus material is presented in non-anamorphic letterbox.

Final Thoughts

There's nothing redeeming about "Who's Your Caddy?", unless, I suppose, you count the hours of slackjawed disbelief you'll enjoy while trying to figure out if maybe, just maybe, they all made a movie this horrendous on purpose, you know, as a lark. Then you'll realize, no, the movie just sucks. Skip It

 

 

 

Review: Who’s Your Caddy?

½* By Nick Schage / July 28, 2007 / www.slantmagazine.com/

In honor of this weekend’s The Simpsons Movie, a quote from the inestimable Homer J. Simpson that brings the stupidity of racial stereotypes into clear focus: “Ever notice how white people have names like Lenny, but black people have names like Carl?” And on the polar opposite side of the spectrum is Who’s Your Caddy?, a fiasco that never met a crass stereotype it didn’t milk for lowest-common-denominator laughs. But don’t count on laughing. Don Michael Paul’s film is the latest in a string of urban comedies whose sole idea of humor is cool African-Americans sticking it to goofy, racist Caucasians, the former here embodied by Outkast’s Big Boi as a rapper named C-Note looking to join an exclusionary golf and polo club, and the latter personified by Jeffrey Jones’s prejudiced club president Cummings. Look out WASP sensibilities, it’s an invasion of music video hoochies and golf carts equipped with 18-inch rims and nitrous! As must already be clear, the less said about the inane, clichéd plot, the better. And the same goes for the film’s tense white-black dynamic, in which C-Note and his buffoonish crew’s crude behavior—which wouldn’t be tolerated at Chuck E. Cheese—is not only celebrated, but cast as beyond reproach, since only a one-dimensional bigot like Cummings (or Big Boi’s perfunctory mom) might disapprove of the rapper’s tasteless vulgarity and misogyny. Anyway, C-Note can’t be criticized for being an obnoxious low-life—he’s a graduate of Dartmouth, where he played lacrosse! One might say that, by stacking the deck and casting all opposition to C-Note and company’s antics as racist, Who’s Your Caddy?exhibits a startling lack of self-criticism (as well as some thoroughly skewed values). But according to the film, that would probably also make one a racist like Cummings, and that’s not good, because racists like Cummings inevitably wind up with their faces in horseshit, and their crotches punched by midgets.

 

 



 

Rotten Tomatoes AUDIENCE REVIEWS

 

*** andrew c
Apr 20, 2009
Different...should have put more into the storyline....

 

+++

* ½ Emma K
Apr 14, 2009
I read a review that said its the worst movie of all time..it's NOT..obviously. Pretty stereotypical..veeeeery typical, but if you're a cheap llaugh, sorta like me..it's watchable..i was very disappointed with Susan Ward's performance..i know she was supposed to just be there and l pook pretty bdut dang! she jeust sat there and looked pretty booooooringgg..

+++

** ½  Wilton A
Apr 13, 2009
This movie could easily have been filmed during the heyday of the blaxploitation films of the 70's. Everything about it is stereotypical. The black people are loud, jovial, and over-sized. The white people are stuck-up and repressed, except for the one white guy who is so cool that he hangs out with the black caddies, and, of course, the white women unable to withstand the seething heat of a brother's charm. Gee whiz. I am almost embarrassed to have watched this thing and laughed any at all, but I did.

+++

**** Ana M
Apr 13, 2009
funny as hell, big boi is kinda a softy in this movie, but still a good movie

+++

**** Ben N
Apr 10, 2009
One of the funniest and most entertaining films of 2007. I own this film and watch it biweekly. Watching it right now as I type this review. Caddyshack got a much needed reworking in this film. I had grown tired of that boring and unsatisfying "comedy" of sorts. This is a refreshing new direction for modern film and I believe this is the beginning of a prosperous film career for Big Boi. The polo scenes were exhilarating to say the least. The story touched me deeply, with the final scene leaving me in tears. It is a great step in illuminating racism in our society, revealing that people of all cultural backgrounds can enjoy the thrill of golf. Truly, it has been years since a film has come along with such cultural impact. Bravo. Also nice sideboob.

+++

**** ½ Lisa R
Apr 08, 2009
I thought this movie was hillarious. I really needed the laughs.

+++

* roger t
Apr 07, 2009
it's one redeeming quality, it was totally forgettable....

+++

***** Jeanette G
Apr 06, 2009
Absolutely Hilarious!!!

+++

**** Matt S
Apr 02, 2009
horrible movie...why did i laugh so much

+++

***** Aaron P
Mar 15, 2009
Fantastic loved it from start to finish will definity be going and buying it

+++

*** ½ Angie
Sep 17, 2008
This movie has funny parts in it. especially da part where o' boi is naked and u see him from behind. LMAO!! All in all good movie.

+++

*** ½ Marie R
Sep 08, 2008
Gave me a much needed belly laugh time.

 

+++

***** Zaytoven Z
Sep 08, 2008
dis movie is da most funniest movies i've seen since katt williams

+++

***** NAYA J
Aug 21, 2008
ONLY LIKE IT CUZ LIL WAYNE WUZ IN IT

+++

***** Private U
Aug 18, 2008
The holy grail so far as movies go, pretentious DVD cover art.

+++

**** ????iBeBeastin?????
Aug 13, 2008
dis movie is funny andy milonakis iz hilarious

+++

*** Omer O
Aug 12, 2008
heheh..some of the bits in this m0vie were realli funny. Loved the pimped out hummer caddy wid spinners on em'. But overall was a very stupid m0vie...a gud time pass though.

+++

***** ♥MrZ_cArTer♥
Aug 12, 2008
it waz hella funny and lil wayne waz in it....awsome but he should of been in it more but other then that it waz FUNNY!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL =)

+++

***** Chelseaaa?
Aug 11, 2008
this movie is sooo funny!

 

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