Rating: R
Genre:
Comedy
Theatrical Release: 09/10/1999(USA)
Release Date: 01/11/2005
SubTitles: English/Espanol
Dubbed: English/Espanol
Sound: DDS
Run Time: 88 Minutes
Flags: Mild Violence, Profanity, Substance Abuse (Alcohol, Drugs), Sexual Situations
Distributor/Studio: 20th Century Fox
What do you do if you're a white guy in a white town who happens to love black music? Flip (
Danny Hoch) is a middle-class kid from the Iowa corn belt, but he doesn't think of himself as just another guy from farm country. Flip loves hip-hop, and he longs to be respected as a hard-core rapper. But a white guy from Iowa who drops mad rhymes looks weird. While Flip and his buddies Trevor (
Mark Webber) and James (
Dash Mihok) may have the clothes, the style, and the lingo down pat, to most folks they look like three white boys trying to be black. When Khalid (
Eugene Byrd), an African-American from Chicago, transfers into Flip's school, Flip comes to his rescue when other kids give him a hard time, and, while Khalid is as baffled by Flip's affectations as most people, a friendship grows between them, and Khalid grudgingly agrees to take Flip and his crew to Chicago, where they get a look at hip-hop culture in a way they haven't seen before. Director
Marc Levin previously explored elements of hip-hop culture in his first dramatic film,
Slam; he also made a number of acclaimed documentaries, including
Gang War: Bangin' in Little Rock, about middle-class kids who have absorbed the gang lifestyle through popular culture.
Whiteboys features appearances by a number of noted hip-hop artists, including
Snoop Dogg,
Slick Rick,
Doug E. Fresh, and
Fat Joe.
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
