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Code Name: The Cleaner
New Line Cinema


3.6

based on 18 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 11 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for sexual content, crude humor and some violence

Starring Cedric the Entertainer, Lucy Liu, Nicollette Sheridan, Mark Dacascos, Callum Keith Rennie, Niecy Nash, DeRay Davis, and Will Patton

In this fast-paced action comedy, Cedric the Entertainer plays Jake, a seemingly regular guy who has no idea who he is after being hit over the head by mysterious assailants. When he finds himself unexpectedly entangled in a high-level government conspiracy, Jake and his pursuers begin to believe that he is an undercover agent who subconsciously holds a key piece of information that could expose an arms deal involving the CIA and the FBI. (New Line Cinema)

GENRE(S):	Action \| Comedy \| Crime
WRITTEN BY:	Robert Adetuyi George Gallo
DIRECTED BY:	Les Mayfield
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: April 24, 2007 Theatrical: January 5, 2007
RUNNING TIME:	91 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Los Angeles Times Michael Ordona

Offers no surprises but is good-natured and funny. It's mercifully devoid of car chases, although it does have a truly inane gunfight -- did any of these trained killers ever hear of target practice? -- and some out-of-left-field martial arts.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

The movie finally comes to life when Liu turns up.

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub

Although the finished product isn't great, it's more akin to a bad Steve Martin movie from the 1980s than bad Pauly Shore from the 1990s. We mean that as a compliment (sort of).

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Bill White

Gets entertaining when Liu kicks in.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The problem is, while the thriller aspects of the movie are serviceable, they aren't good enough to form the basis of anything more serious than a sit-com, and by spending as much time on them as Code Name: The Cleaner does, it makes the film at times seem drawn-out and tedious.

The New York Times Neil Genzlinger

Cedric the Entertainer's artless performance deadens what could have been a much funnier comedy.

TV Guide Ken Fox

The humor is too adult for children and the plot far too childish for most adults; in fact, everything about the film is really too silly to warrant much consideration.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Aside from Cedric's admittedly appealing persona -- he's always watchable, even in dreck like this -- there's absolutely nothing to recommend The Cleaner.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

This implausible plot full of holes does pave the way for a series of Cedric the Entertainer skits and physical gags. None of these is very funny. A few are painfully unfunny. In either case, the movie comes to a standstill. It's a pity no one thought to screen old Bob Hope movies to see how to integrate comedy into genre filmmaking.

Variety Brian Lowry

This is an especially limp star vehicle that delivers a few widely spaced moments of frivolity before what should be a quick mop-up trip to the DVD aisles.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Never really generates any serious laughs.

New York Post Kyle Smith

Isn't as bad as you'd think, but this comic mash-up of "The Bourne Identity" and "Fat Albert" doesn't have much heft.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

How do films this stale and generic continue to get made, let alone with topflight talent? Cedric has been stealing scenes from bigger names for nearly a decade; he deserves better than a few amusingly-improvised minutes at the end of his own movie. And so do we.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

It's another standard-issue bad star-vehicle action-comedy, this time for Cedric.

Entertainment Weekly Gregory Kirschling

Get Lucy Liu better roles!

LA Weekly Luke Y. Thompson

Cedric gets some help from a butt-kicking babe (Lucy Liu) who may or may not be his girlfriend, and if you believe this pairing could plausibly happen, you might be gullible enough to buy a ticket to this movie.

Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar

I humbly submit that Cedric the Entertainer be required to give up the "Entertainer" portion of his nom de plume until he actually starts entertaining us.

Austin Chronicle Toddy Burton

The most poignant point in the whole painful endeavor is when the credits roll. It's here that we see the outtakes and watch Cedric riffing as he improvs variations on his dialogue. These outtakes are genuinely funny, standing as reminders that the last 90 minutes were a sad waste of talent.

The average user rating for this movie is 3.6 (out of 10) based on 11 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

PnArdy PnArdy gave it a5:
Not so bad action comedy. However, I would say, the action part looks rather silly and way unrealistic. I love Lucy Liu and Cedric. She's gorgeous as always.

Chad S. gave it a4:
Film noir as low-brow comedy; that's the platform, that's the m.o. for "Code Name: Cleaner", a forgettable, but arguably transgressive film("Double Indemnity" wouldn't have a gag reel this funny) which reimagines Dashiel Hammett as Keenan Ivory Wayans. A janitor indeed makes a good everyman, but "Code Name: the Cleaner" isn't really serious about reinventing film noir for a demographic that doesn't watch Turner Classic Movies. For some reason, the film shies away from going to that absurd level the audience is anticipating. The special ops flashbacks are wasted, but in a way, they faintly recall "Existenz" since those memories are a simulation.

David H. gave it a6:
Though not a highly publicised movie, it still had many moments for laughter. A simple movie that is simply enjoyable.

Dale Harper gave it a2:
It was an awful movie with little humor, the plot was dumb and confusing. Don't these actors have a reputation to hold? It was really dumb, don't see it.

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Code Name: The Cleaner New Line Cinema

Code Name: The Cleaner
New Line Cinema