White Chicks Fashion Designer
Dionne
White Chicks is a 2004 American comedy film directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans from a screenplay co-written by Wayans, Xavier Cook, Andy McElfresh, Michael Anthony Snowden, with additional contributions by and starring Marlon Wayans and Shawn Wayans. It also stars Jaime King, Frankie Faison, Lochlyn Munro, and John Heard. In the film, two black male FBI agents go undercover as white women by using whiteface to protect two hotel heiresses from a kidnapping plot targeting socialites.
Principal photography for White Chicks took place in Chilliwack and Victoria in British Columbia, and in The Hamptons in New York. It was theatrically released in the United States on June 23, 2004. The film received generally negative reviews upon release,[5] and was nominated for five Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Picture. It grossed over $113.1 million worldwide,[4] and has since come to be regarded as a cult classic.[5][6][7]
FBI agents Marcus Anthony II and Kevin Copeland ruin a drug bust accidentally. Their boss offers them a reprieve if they escort sisters Brittany and Tiffany Wilson safely to a weekend-long fashion event in the Hamptons. The Wilsons are the rich, shallow socialite daughters of Wilson Cruiseliners CEO Andrew Wilson, whom the police suspect will become the next victims in a string of high-profile kidnappings.
On the drive, the sisters' dog leaps out of the car window, causing Kevin to lose control. The sisters suffer minor facial cuts. With the sisters refusing to be seen with cut faces, Kevin sends them into hiding; he has a makeup expert friend create prosthetic disguises so he and Marcus can replace them.
At the Vandergelds' annual charity auction, Latrell wins a dinner date at a restaurant with Marcus/Tiffany. While Latrell takes Marcus/Tiffany to a restaurant, Kevin, believing Denise likes rich men, pretends to be Latrell and takes Latrell's car to drive Denise to Latrell's house. There, he hears about Ted Burton turning the tables on Heather and Megan's father, Warren. With Kevin becoming romantically involved with Denise and Marcus/Tiffany unsuccessfully trying to reject Latrell, their combined antics put them under Gomez and Harper's suspicion.
At a nightclub, after winning a dance-off against the Vandergelds, Kevin and Marcus learn from Karen that Warren is penniless and has been taking loans from her father, meaning that Warren is the mastermind behind the kidnappings. The next day, the real Brittany and Tiffany arrive at the hotel and discover they are being impersonated.
The sisters arrive in the Hamptons, exposing their "clones", as does Marcus' wife, Gina, assuming that he is cheating on her. Realizing the Wilsons are being impersonated by men, Gomez and Harper aim to expose them, but inadvertently strip down the real Brittany and Tiffany in front of Gordon, resulting in the sisters punching Harper in the face. After Gomez and Harper are suspended, a furious Gordon fires Kevin and Marcus. Having lost both his job and possibly Gina, Marcus scolds Kevin for always dragging him into trouble.
Later, Kevin and Marcus discover that Warren had embezzled money through his charity. Marcus convinces Kevin to not tell Gordon, to redeem themselves with Gomez and Harper's help. Again posing as the Wilsons, they are chosen for the final fashion show. The Vandergelds are furious the Copelands/Wilsons have replaced them on the catwalk, but the real Brittany and Tiffany also perform in the event. Karen rejects the callous Heath, and Marcus punches him in the face. During the show, the Vandergeld sisters try to sabotage their "rivals", but end up being humiliated by Karen, Lisa, and Tori.
The real Brittany and Tiffany appear and expose Kevin and Marcus, causing mass confusion. Warren begins the kidnapping, but incorrectly captures Marcus/Tiffany and Brittany. This begins a fight between the Copeland brothers and Heath and Russ, accomplices in the kidnappings. Warren soon captures the real sisters and explains his financial troubles to his wife and daughters, unaware that his confession is being filmed. In the ensuing scuffle, Kevin is nearly shot trying to protect Denise, Latrell is shot trying to protect Marcus/Tiffany, and Kevin shoots Warren in the shoulder.
Marcus and Kevin capture Warren, while Gomez and Harper apprehend Heath and Russ. Afterward, their true identities are revealed, and Latrell is more dismayed that Marcus is not white, not that he is a man. Warren, Heath, and Russ are arrested, while Gordon reinstates the Copeland brothers, Gomez, and Harper. Marcus clears things with Gina, Kevin and Denise begin a relationship, and Latrell wins over the real Brittany and Tiffany. Tori, Lisa, and Karen admit they liked Brittany and Tiffany a lot more when Marcus and Kevin were them. The five agree to remain friends and go shopping the next day together.
Filming occurred partly in Chilliwack, British Columbia, including the exterior scenes at the Hamptons and Victoria, British Columbia.[8] Director Keenen Ivory Wayans also co-wrote and co-produced the film with his brothers.
White Chicks was theatrically released in the United States on June 23, 2004. Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment released the DVD in the United States on October 26, 2004 and also on UMD on November 29, 2005.[9]
The film was "largely panned" by critics upon release.[5] On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 15% based on 126 reviews, and an average rating of 3.9/10. The site's consensus states that the film is a "scattershot comedy that's silly and obvious."[11] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 41 out of 100 based on 31 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[12] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[13]
David Rooney of Variety gave a positive review, and stated that the film "scores more hits than misses."[20] USA Today's Mike Clark rated it 3/4, and said "As with every other genre, there's a right way and a wrong way to handle dude-lawman comedies. Chicks does it right a lot of the time."[21]
White Chicks was nominated for five Razzies, including Worst Picture, Worst Actress for the Wayans brothers in drag, Worst Director, Worst Screenplay and Worst Screen Couple. It lost in all categories to Catwoman and Fahrenheit 9/11.[22] At the 2004 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, the film received nominations for Worst Picture, Worst Director (Keenan Ivory Wayans), Most Painfully Unfunny Comedy, Worst On-Screen Couple (Shawn and Marlon Wayans), and Least "Special" Special Effects. Its only win was for Most Painfully Unfunny Comedy.[23]
In August 2009, a sequel to the film was announced by Sony, though they later canceled the project.[25][26] In April 2014, Marlon Wayans expressed interest in a sequel.[27] A sequel was confirmed to be in the works in March 2018.[28] On June 30, 2019, Terry Crews confirmed a sequel on the program Watch What Happens Live. Marlon Wayans confirmed that this information was not meant to leak, and that the deal had not yet been confirmed.[29]
The swan dress is a dress resembling a mute swan designed by Marjan Pejoski and worn by the Icelandic artist Bjrk at the 73rd Academy Awards on March 25, 2001, as well as on the cover of her album Vespertine. A Debenhams poll published in The Daily Telegraph in 2008 voted it the ninth-most iconic red carpet dress of all time.[1] Bjrk's swan dress was reimagined by Valentino at its Spring 2014 Couture fashion show at Paris Fashion Week, which received praise from fashion blogs and social media.[2] In 2019, the dress was featured in the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the exhibition Camp: Notes on Fashion.[3]
I don't watch many Hollywood films, and being from Iceland, it's pretty accidental what gets over there. Most Hollywood films that I watch are Busby Berkeley musicals and ... what's that movie called with all the swimming? Esther Williams, that sort of thing, so I thought it'd be very appropriate to wear a swan. I guess they don't do those things anymore, right? But it was a tribute to Busby Berkeley and that sort of elegance."
Designed by Macedonian designer Marjan Pejoski, the dress was designed like a mute swan (Cygnus olor) and at the ceremony Bjrk mimicked laying an egg on the red carpet.[5] It was described by Emanuel Levy as "A giant swan dress, a full-body stocking that was covered with a giant swan whose neck wrapped around her with its head and beak resting on her breasts".[6] She had two copies of the dress produced, given that it could not be taken to the dry cleaners.[7] She later wore the dress on the cover of her 2001 record album Vespertine, photographed by Inez and Vinoodh, and variations of it many times on the Vespertine world tour. One of the copies was auctioned off for the international aid agency Oxfam on eBay and sold for $9,500 in 2005.[8]
The dress was talked about in the fashion and entertainment world for weeks after the event. It was widely criticized and seen as outrageous and outlandish and an outfit that "became the year's fashion faux pas".[6][9] Some viewed it as bizarre enough to be more than just a publicity stunt, something confirmed by Bjrk.[10] Jay Carr of the Boston Globe wrote, "Bjork's wraparound swan frock...made her look like a refugee from the more dog-eared precincts of provincial ballet", while Steven Cojocaru called the dress "probably one of the dumbest things I've ever seen".[11] Joan Rivers remarked "Later I saw her in the ladies room spreading papers on the floor...This girl should be put into an asylum."[11] However, the dress was praised by some for its originality; The New York Observer's verdict was "total overall j'adore" and Melissa Etheridge was also reported to have praised the dress.[11]
In response to the media hype, Bjrk said "It's just a dress".[11] She said, "I don't really know why I'm obsessed with swans but as I said, everything about my new album is about winter and they're a white, sort of winter bird. Obviously very romantic, being monogamous. It's one of those things that maybe I'm too much in the middle of to describe. When you're obsessed with something, you can explain it five years later, but in the moment, you don't know exactly why. Right now, swans seem to sort of stand for a lot of things."[12] The swan or water bird slung around the neck or hung limply under a person's arm could be a reference to The Rime of the Ancient Mariner written in 1798.
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