Today’s quick review: Code Name: The Cleaner. Jake (Cedric the Entertainer) wakes up in a hotel with a dead FBI agent, a briefcase of money, and a bad case of amnesia. He is whisked away from the police by Diane (Nicollette Sheridan), a woman claiming to be his wife, but Jake soon decides to investigate on his own. Together with Gina (Lucy Liu), a waitress who knows him, Jake pieces together the clues to reach a shocking conclusion: that he is a spy for the CIA.
Code Name: The Cleaner is a spy comedy that puts a silly spin on the amnesiac thriller genre. Cedric the Entertainer stars as Jake, a sweet, honest man caught in the middle of a web of intrigue. Lucy Liu joins him as Gina, a waitress who knows about his past and is willing to hide him from his pursuers. The two make a charming duo, neither one a phenomenal character, but good with one another.
Code Name: The Cleaner follows a simple formula: place Jake in an unusual situation and watch him react to it. These digressions offer up some lowbrow humor and slapstick, but they tend to lose sight of the main plot for minutes at a time. The story itself is not particularly elaborate or clever, but it is enough to keep the fiilm moving. Code Name: The Cleaner has the vibe of a primetime comedy, a lax affair with a basic premise requiring little thought or attention.
Watch Code Name: The Cleaner when you are in the mood for an easy and mildly amusing watch. Though far from a comedy masterpiece, its likable characters and decent sense of humor make it a nice palate cleanser. Skip it if you are looking for something good rather than decent. For another Lucy Liu crime comedy with a better script, check out Lucky Number Slevin. For a martial arts comedy with a similar premise, check out Jackie Chan’s Who Am I?.
4.5 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 6.0 for decent humor and charm.