Code Name: The Cleaner (2007)

User Rating:

3.9/10   

Director:

Les Mayfield

Writers (WGA):

Robert Adetuyi (written by) and
George Gallo (written by)

Release Date:

5 January 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Crime

Tagline:

In a dirty world, he's our only hope.

Plot:

Cedric the Entertainer plays Jake, a seemingly regular guy who has no idea who he is after being hit...

Plot Keywords:

Martial Arts | Clogs | Spy | Thong | Parking Lot

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Cedric the Entertainer	...	Jake Rodgers
Lucy Liu	...	Gina
Nicollette Sheridan	...	Diane
Mark Dacascos	...	Eric Hauck
Callum Keith Rennie	...	Shaw
Niecy Nash	...	Jacuzzi
DeRay Davis	...	Ronnie
Will Patton	...	Riley
Kevin McNulty	...	Doctor Soames
BJ Davis	...	Old Timer (as Beau Davis)
Bart Anderson	...	Charlie
Tom Butler	...	Crane
Robert Clarke	...	The Butler
Rick Tae	...	Mini Bar Attendant
Kurt Max Runte	...	Dead FBI Agent

Also Known As:

The Cleaner (USA) (informal short title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sexual content, crude humor and some violence.

Runtime:

84 min | USA:91 min (Cannes Film Festival)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS | DTS

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #42643) | Portugal:M/12 | UK:PG | Germany:12 | Singapore:PG | Finland:K-15 | Ireland:12A | New Zealand:M | Australia:M | Netherlands:AL

Filming Locations:

Vancouver International Airport, Sea Island, Richmond, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

New Line Cinema

Trivia:

Elizabeth Hurley was the original choice for Diane.

Goofs:

Factual errors: In the hotel, Jake says the briefcase contains approx $250,000. There are 10 stacks of bills with two bundles in each stack. A bundle of bills contains 50 bills. So that would be a total of 100 bills/stack or 1000 total. The largest bill in circulation is the $100, thus no more than $100,000 could be in the briefcase (most people don't realize just how difficult it would be for a single person to carry large sums of money like $1,000,000 or $10,000,000 and how many suit/briefcases it would take to have such in "small, unmarked bills" but yet movie characters seem to be able to do so easily in even small bags.)

Quotes:

Diane: I can't believe you don't remember your own wife!
Jake Rodgers: I'm married?... to a white woman?... Am i Lionel Richie?

Movie Connections:

References Halo 2 (2004) (VG)

Soundtrack:

Ur Uh Freak

Did they run out of money?

Watching this movie, I kept thinking they couldn't afford to have a real script written, and must have run out of money when they were about 2/3 of the way through, and couldn't finish editing it. Not to mention, they probably couldn't afford Martin Lawrence for the lead role, so they filled it with Cedric the Entertainer, who does better in supporting roles. Cedric does have several funny scenes, though.

The plot is completely unintelligible, and undeveloped, but based on the genre you can predict most of the action. It's the ever-popular "hero has something secret the bad guys want, so they can sell it to terrorists for a fortune, but it's missing." Not to mention, the scenes or "shticks" that have been better done elsewhere. For example, every time Cedric tried to be funny with judo moves, I kept thinking that he ripped that off from Martin, who does it much better. There is a brief cat-fight scene that is far inferior to the one in Undercover Brother (which is an excellent movie, and much funnier overall).