essica (McAdams) is the most popular girl in school. The head cheerleader, she rules the school with her posse of gal pals, including best friend April (Faris). And she has the best boyfriend ever, football hunk Billy (Lawrence).
But Jessica also has a devilish streak. She steals forbidden earrings from the local mall's ethnic art store. And she can't resist messing with the gas station attendant who's checking under her hood.
Little does she know that the attendant is really Clive (Schneider), a two-bit thief who has just robbed the station. Little does she know that the earrings are really ancient Abyssinian artifacts cursed with bad voodoo. And little does she know that Clive has come into possession of one of the enchanted earrings.
When she awakes the next morning, Jessica discovers to her horror that she has suddenly switched bodies with Clive. No longer a perky blonde 18-year-old, Jessica is now a bad-smelling, balding 30-year-old man.
She calls April, who at first disbelieves Jessica and pepper-sprays him/her. But April eventually comes around. "You really have a penis?" she asks Jessica. "Can I see it?"
Wondering if she'll ever change back, Jessica tries to hang on to her life. "I should have made love to you when I had the chance," she cries to Billy over the telephone. Only Billy hears a man calling.
April gathers Jessica's posse together to figure out how this happened and how to reverse it. In the meantime, Jessica poses as a janitor at the high school.
Meanwhile, Clive—now in Jessica's body—has begun a one-woman crime wave. The media dub her "the Hot Chick Bandit." Can Jessica figure out how to get her body back before it's too late?
A puerile project as idiotic as it sounds
The Hot Chick, from Animal partners Schneider and Brady, is vile. Flush from the success of the modestly amusing Animal, Brady (who makes his directorial debut) and Schneider have built an odious movie around the questionable premise that audiences will love watching Schneider mince around like a girl.
Sad to say, there may be an audience for that—the same people who wait in line for Jackass: The Movie or Adam Sandler's 8 Crazy Nights. But the rest of us will find the The Hot Chick tasteless, idiotic, offensive in too many ways to list and, worst of all, supremely unfunny.
Here's what Brady and Schneider think is funny. Schneider as Jessica flashing his weenie over and over again. Schneider as Jessica trying ineptly to pee. Over and over again. Schneider prancing around in too-small girl's halter tops. Over and over again. Schneider as Jessica batting his big brown eyes at men. Get it? He likes men, but wait! He's a man, too!
Here's what else they think is funny. A black girl who's ashamed of her outrageous stereotype of a Korean mother. A dad who farts and drinks beer with his outrageously stereotyped Mexican gardener. A male student who thinks his male admirer is his Catholic priest. A fat girl who can't stop eating. A black guy who likes fat girls. And veteran comic Dick Gregory as a bathroom attendant. (Of course, it may be unfair to single out examples of outrageous stereotypes in a movie in which every character has less depth than the boys of South Park.)
Not enough? How about Faris (Scary Movie) bugging her eyes out and gaping like an idiot every time she has a line? How about Schneider lisping every time he has a line? How about seasoned character actors like Melora Hardin and Robert Davi barely concealing their embarrassment at being in this movie?
