Low Down Dirty Shame, A MPAA Rating: R Entertainment: +1 1/2 Content: -3 1/2

Andro Shame (Keenan Ivory Wayans) is an ex-drug enforcement agent who is now a private detective. When his former partner Sonny (Charles Dutton) asks for his help to nab their arch-enemy Mendoza (Andrew Divoff), Shame reluctantly agrees. Shame soon discovers that his former girlfriend and Mendoza's recent lover, Angela Flowers (Salli Richardson), has reappeared. She is now going to testify against Mendoza. Shame's secretary, Peaches Jordan (Jada Pinkett), is upset that Angela is back since she loves Shame. From there the plot actually gets worse. That, plus bad acting, combine to make a supposedly smart-talking BEVERLY HILLS COP movie into a violent mess of silliness. The only bright spot, the character of Peaches, is drowned by the rest of the film.

Without a plot or interesting characters to propel this movie forward, violence and language become a sad substitute. At least fifteen people are killed in this "comedy," most shot repeatedly with machine guns. Others are burned up, killed in explosions and one man gets his throat cut. Those not killed are beaten up in several very bloody fights with kicking in the groin, punching in the face and stomach, and blows with pipes and tire irons. One plot device centers around an unfortunate man whose car is shoved off a cliff, and then he suffers a beating by white racists and an attack by dogs. Real funny stuff. The climactic scene involves a vicious kick fight between two women as Shame stands idly by watching. To outdo the violence, if possible, foul language includes 103 obscenities along with many crudities. A homosexual couple is portrayed positively as comic relief. The "good guy" kills several men, beats up many more and keeps part of the drug money for himself. Stay away from A LOW DOWN DIRTY SHAME, whose title sums it all up.

Preview Reviewer: Greg Wilson
Distributor: Buena Vista Distribution, 3900 W. Alameda Ave., Burbank, CA 91521