White Chicks
Two Black FBI agents go undercover as a pair of white Hamptons heiresses, and the result became a cult classic anyway. Critics savaged White Chicks in June 2004 (15% on Rotten Tomatoes) and the Razzies nominated it five times, audiences gave it a B+ and $113 million, and Terry Crews belting "A Thousand Miles" outlived every review.
The Wayans brothers pitched White Chicks at the same time they pitched a third Scary Movie, and when Miramax asked them to take a pay cut on the sequel they walked away from Scary Movie 3 to make this instead. Keenen Ivory Wayans directed from a story he wrote with Shawn and Marlon, who star as FBI agents Kevin and Marcus Copeland. The brothers are assigned to protect the Wilson sisters, a pair of socialite heiresses, from a suspected kidnapping plot during a Hamptons fashion weekend, and end up going undercover as Brittany and Tiffany themselves, in full prosthetic makeup. Terry Crews plays Latrell Spencer, with Busy Philipps, Jennifer Carpenter, Jaime King, Brittany Daniel, and John Heard around them. It was shot in Chilliwack and Victoria, British Columbia, plus the Hamptons.
Columbia released it on June 23, 2004, on a $37 million budget. It opened at number two with $19.7 million and finished with $70.8 million domestic and $113.1 million worldwide. The reviews were brutal: 15% on Rotten Tomatoes, a 41 on Metacritic, Roger Ebert's one and a half stars, and Richard Roeper's pick for the single worst film of 2004. Variety's David Rooney was one of the few to say it "scores more hits than misses," and audiences polled by CinemaScore gave it a B+. At the Razzies it collected five nominations, including Worst Actress for the brothers in drag, and lost every one to Catwoman and Fahrenheit 9/11.
None of that mattered to the people who kept it on repeat. The DVD arrived that October, and the scenes took on lives of their own: the "your mother" insult battle, the dance-off, and above all Crews singing every word of Vanessa Carlton's "A Thousand Miles" in total earnest, which became the song's second life. Marlon has said he would only do it again if the hours of makeup could be done digitally, and the sequel has been announced, canceled, confirmed by Crews on Watch What Happens Live in 2019, walked back, and dismissed; in February 2026 Marlon said it would happen if the new Scary Movie succeeds.
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Vanessa Carlton — "A Thousand Miles"
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