‘Sextuplets’ is Chaotic Comedy

Marlon Wayans, the youngest of 10 Hollywood siblings, did what he does best and released a Netflix original comedy called ‘Sextuplets’.

Known for making undeniably funny films, the Wayans family gained notoriety in the early 2000s with the first three installments of the ‘Scary Movie’ series.

‘Sextuplets’ does not veer far from the modus operandi of the talented 47-year-old actor, screenwriter and comedian. It is the story of a soon-to-be father who grew up in the American foster care system and attempts to reconnect with his long-lost siblings with whom he shares a birthday.

The story starts off innocently, with Wayans’ character, Alan, trying to find out more about himself and his medical history before his wife gives birth to their first child.What he finds is a chaotic connection to five other people and a desire to bring everyone together.

Alan does what he can to tolerate the strangers-turned-family, but soon finds himself with more in his mouth than he can masticate. Somehow, it highlights the unbreakable bond between siblings that can exist across barriers.

Following in the footsteps of actors before him like Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, Lindsay Lohan, Tyler Perry and others, Wayans plays not just the main protagonist, Alan, but also all five of his siblings.

There’s Russell, a socially awkward and arrogant couch potato; Dawn, the only girl and honestly the toughest of the six; Baby Pete, the deathbed-ridden and self-serving guy; Ethan, a former salon owner with a 70s American pimp accent and the illusive, scary and emotionally deprived government agent, Jaspar.

All the siblings resemble Alan, but come with their own personalities, really giving Wayans the opportunity to flex his acting range.

Each unique character is played convincingly. From Russell’s lisp to Jaspar’s croaky voice and Ethan’s shiftiness, he really shows off his years of acting, though Dawn’s character was slightly overdone. It almost seems like they took every female stereotype they could think of and moulded it into one person.

Looking at the characters, Wayans might have just completely finessed playing multiple roles on screen. The costumes, make-up and special effects makes it look like there are different versions of Wayans in the room at once.

‘Sextuplets’ has its funny moments and leaves viewers with many quotables such as “you are not God or Obama!” spoken by Dawn.

The cinematography is brilliant. Michael Tiddes, as the director, brought the script to life in 97 minutes, although he may have tried too many things at once.

The audience doesn’t get to connect with the characters in the story enough and by the time the movie ends, it feels like they didn’t quite get to the point.

There are also some dull moments along the way. For the sake of a few random attempts at physical comedy, there were some unnecessary scenes.

Overall, it was a slightly above average movie. Take into consideration that Wayans was partly behind the incredibly executed cult classic ‘White Chicks’, you’ll be even more underwhelmed.

It’s not entirely bad, but with a bit more thought, it could’ve been better.

– @MissAnneDastood on Twitter and Instagram.