Phat Beach MPAA Rating: R Entertainment: +1 Content: -3

Summer fun on a California beach is the goal of this hip-hop comedy, but Frankie and Annette are nowhere in sight. Instead we're stuck with Benny King (Jermaine "Huggy" Hopkins), a chubby guy who wants to be a poet and fantasizes about a vivacious dream girl. Benny's parasitic best friend Durrel Jackson (Brian Hooks) talks Benny into "borrowing" his daddy's Mercedes and heading for the beach, where they'll sell cheap sunglasses to make money and pick up girls. Durrel is obsessed with the ladies, however, and Benny is left penniless when the sunglasses are stolen and the Mercedes is impounded. His spirits are raised when his dream girl (Claudia Kaleem) appears in the flesh, but Benny discovers that her gold-digger personality is a nightmare. The only way out of his predicament is to win a beach volleyball tournament, and fortunately Benny has a killer serve. The action is predictable in PHAT BEACH, and there is limited scope to its humor, concentrating mostly on Benny's perpetual hunger and Durrel's lustful desires. The beach setting fails to provide any additional fun or excitement.

The film's regard for women is deplorable. With the exception of one young female depicted in a favorable light, the rest are treated as sex objects. When an attractive girl walks by, Durrel talks about having sex with "that" in crude terms. Naturally there are several women shown in skimpy bathing suits on the beach, including a bikini contest. But the guys also make a side trip to a strip joint where topless dancers move suggestively and proposition the patrons. Sexual intercourse is implied several times, including passionate sounds from a hotel room. Durrel is shown having sex in the back seat of the car, but there is no nudity. Foul language is prevalent throughout the film, with over 80 obscenities, four dozen crudities and five regular profanities. There's practically nothing about PHAT BEACH that would make it attractive to anyone, and the fact that it's being targeted to young adults makes its loathsome behavior particularly offensive. This is a film to avoid.

Preview Reviewer: Mark Perry
Distributor: Orion Pictures, 304 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10010