Class Act

Class Act is a 1992 American comedy film directed by Randall Miller and starring hip-hop duo Kid 'n Play. An urban retelling of Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper, the film was written by Cynthia Friedlob and John Semper from a story by Michael Swerdlick, Richard Brenne and Wayne Allan Rice. Filmed at Van Nuys High School in the San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles, it is the third of five films starring Kid 'n Play, following House Party (1990) and House Party 2 (1991), and preceding House Party 3 (1994) and House Party: Tonight's the Night (2013).

Genius high school student Duncan Pinderhughes is getting ready for graduation, but is somewhat disheartened to find out that, despite his perfect SAT score and 4.0 GPA, prestigious Hafford University (parody of Harvard University) will not admit him unless he can pass phys. ed. Ex-convict Michael "Blade" Brown is released from jail, and told by his parole officer that the condition of his release is satisfactory graduation from high school. A mishap results in their pictures being swapped on their permanent school records. In effect, Blade is surprised to find out that he is being placed in gifted classes, while Duncan is shocked to be placed in minimal classes with substandard conditions and miscreants for classmates.

Blade realizes this and sees Duncan as his ticket permanently out of jail, since Duncan could pass his classes with ease. He transforms Duncan into a version of himself with dreadlocks, and does his best to teach Duncan how to act and talk like himself. Having no grasp of hip hop culture, Duncan's parents begin to worry about their son's new "friend"; his father especially, beginning to suspect Duncan is gay.

Blade manages to smooth-talk his way through his advanced classes, even successfully executing a dissertation on sexual intercourse (one of his favorite subjects). Duncan ends up running into trouble with a high school thug named Wedge, but also discovers an uncanny ability to kick field goals, and joins the school's football team. Both Blade and Duncan end up with girlfriends that the other would have, with Blade smooth-talking the intelligent but excitement-seeking Ellen and Duncan being pursued by the wild Damita (Alysia Rogers).

A drug dealer named Mink was told by his employee Wedge that Blade has been stepping into his territory and a chase involving the guys and their girlfriends and one of Duncan's new buddies ensues. The gang briefly lose Wedge and Mink and go to Damita's workplace (a wax museum), but are discovered by Mink and Wedge. Once there, the girlfriends realize that their men are swapped, and both guys eventually end up dumped. Still, Duncan manages to knock out Wedge in the museum, while Blade handles Mink, but they all end up in jail.

After the mix-up is corrected, Blade, Duncan and company are all set free. In an anti-climax, Duncan and Blade both enter a Knowledge bowl in an effort to get Blade back with Ellen. They succeed when Blade answers a tiebreaker question to win the competition, recalling a choice tidbit Ellen once told him. Afterward, both couples end up together. In a final scene, Duncan's father walks in on him and Damita having sex, which relieves his initial worries about Duncan's sexuality.

Walking in each other's shoes dramatically changed the lives of both Duncan and Blade. In the epilogue, the audience learns that Blade graduated from high school and attended Hafford (even wearing preppy attire), while Duncan attended Stanford on a football scholarship.

• Christopher "Kid" Reid – Duncan Pinderhughes
• Christopher "Play" Martin – Michael Charles "Blade" Brown
• Karyn Parsons – Ellen
• Thomas Mikal Ford – Mink
• Rick Ducommun – Parole Officer Reichert
• Alysia Rogers – Damita
• Andre Rosey Brown – Jail Guard
• David Basulto – Go-Go
• Doug E. Doug – Popsicle
• George Alvarez – Tommy
• Lamont Johnson – Wedge
• Loretta Devine – Ms. Brown
• Mariann Aalda – Mrs. Pinderhughes
• Meshach Taylor – Sr. Pinderhughes
• Michael Whaley – Tyrone
• Patricia Fraser – Señora Ipswitch
• Pauly Shore – Julian Thomas (sin acreditar)
• Raye Birk – Directora Kratz
• Reginald Ballard – Afrutado
• Simplemente maravilloso – Sra. Jackson
• John Hostetter – Entrenador de fútbol

Apariciones especiales de:

• Lance Crouther – Tipo malo n.° 1
• Rhea Perlman – Joanne Simpson
• Sam McMurray – Skip Wankman
• Baldwin C. Sykes – Tipo malo n.° 2

La película debutó en el puesto número 7 en la taquilla estadounidense. ^{[ 2 ]} Llegó a recaudar un total de 13.272.113 dólares. ^{[ 1 ]}

La película recibió críticas negativas, pero tras su lanzamiento en VHS y DVD, se convirtió en una película de culto.

En el sitio web agregador de reseñas Rotten Tomatoes , el 17% de las reseñas de 12 críticos son positivas, con una calificación promedio de 3.8/10. ^{[ 3 ]}

Metacritic , que utiliza un promedio ponderado , le asignó a la película una puntuación de 49 sobre 100, basada en 18 críticos, lo que indica críticas "mixtas o promedio". ^{[ 4 ]} Gene Siskel y Roger Ebert la consideraron tonta, pero el primero le dio un "pulgar arriba" y el segundo un "pulgar abajo", y no le pareció bien la representación de las mujeres y el nivel de clase en la película. ^{[ 5 ]}

Janet Maslin, de The New York Times, dijo que "la película no aspira a mucho más que a un brío caricaturesco, pero Kid 'n' Play la sostienen con facilidad. Su sincronización cómica es perfecta, y su humor logra ser a la vez tradicional y actual. (Una discusión sobre si uno de ellos es "sordo" o "def" se desarrolla al más puro estilo de "¿Quién está en primera?"). La película incorpora fácilmente un episodio de rap y baile que encanta al público, protagonizado por ambos, y solo se desvía cuando aborda algo más complejo. Una secuencia de persecución a través de un museo de cera solo confunde las cosas al volverse demasiado concurrida y perder de vista a los protagonistas temporalmente". ^{[ 6 ]}

Rolling Stone critic Peter Travers said that "first-time director Randall Miller guides [the actors] over every predictable comic misstep with a timeout for a hip-hop number. Kid'n Play have charm, but it's disturbing to see them settle for the slick. Their rap used to stand for something; now it's just easy listening."^[7]

The film was made available on DVD in May 2010.^[8]

• 1. B Angie B – A Class Act I (5:42)
• 2. Monie Love – Full Term Love (4:45)
• 3. Jade – I Wanna Love You (4:33)
• 4. Tara Kemp – Anything You Ask (5:03)
• 5. Vassal Benford – Blade's Theme (4:28)
• 6. Penthouse Players – A Class Act II (Rap Version) (3:24)
• 7. Kid 'N Play – Get It Right (4:07)
• 8. Lord Finesse – Set It Off Troop (4:16)
• 9. Cold Premiere – That Body (4:50)
• 10. Lisa Taylor – Better Late Than Never (4:01)

• List of hood films

• Class Act at IMDb 
• Class Act at Rotten Tomatoes