Too trite by half to be anything like the classic of satirical comedy for which half the American critics took it, this attempt to make fun out of a white man posing as black still has some ingratiating moments, especially in the relationship between the central protagonist (C Thomas Howell), the black girl (Rae Dawn Chong) whose scholarship he has inadvertently usurped and her four-year-old son, very winningly played by little Jonathan `Fudge' Leonard. But its straighter scenes tend to be embarrassing rather than effective, with the consequence that the film has laughs in the wrong as well as the right places. And its plot often mistakes high farce for gentle, biting humour, especially in the scenes involving the formidable James Earl Jones, whose intelligent performance is deserving of something rather better. Most successful funny scene comes when the tall Howell reveals himself as the world's most inept black basketball player.


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