Marci X is a 2003 American romantic comedy film directed by Richard Benjamin, written by Paul Rudnick, and starring Lisa Kudrow and Damon Wayans.
Marci Feld (Kudrow), a spoiled Jewish American Princess, is forced to take control of her father's hardcore rap label, Felony Assault, when her father Ben suffers a stress-induced heart attack due to the controversy surrounding one of the label's songs by controversial rapper Dr. S (Wayans). To rescue her father's plummeting stock, Marci attempts to tone down the rapper's bad-boy image. Over time, the unlikely pair falls in love, just as conservative senator Mary Ellen Spinkle (Christine Baranski) vows to banish Dr. S and his offensive lyrics from the airwaves forever.
This film provides examples of:
- Actually Pretty Funny: A prominently black nightclub has a pretty good-humored reaction to Marci and her friends' spontaneous Kenyan dance.
- Actually Quite Catchy: If Senator Spinkle's goofy as hell dance to Dr. S's mixtape is any indication, she does find some appeal on Dr. S's music. She's still determined to boycott his albums, however.
- Artistic License – Law: In real-life, Senator Spinkle's campaign to get Dr. S's music banned would be a complete non-starter, as his right to produce and perform his music would be protected by the First Amendment. The most that Spinkle could do is try and force the Recording Industry Association of America to implement some kind of rating system along the lines of those used by its film and video game counterparts (the MPAA and ESRB respectively), and even that would be a long shot.
- Black Is Bigger in Bed: Guess what response Marci gets when she asks S how different it is when black people have sex.
- Blackmail: After Senator Spinkle danced to Dr. S's music, it is revealed later that her son filmed the dance. Her son telling her "It's for your own good!" after he reveals it leaves the implication that she stopped her campaign to ban Dr. S in exchange for him not releasing the tape.
- Break the Haughty: Marci gets a taste of the thug lifestyle when she's unjustly arrested and thrown in jail for a crime she didn't commit.
- Camp Gay: The local Boy Band Boys 'R' Us, who dresses in pink versions of Village People costumes in the epilogue.
- Expy
- Boys 'R' Us is one to the Backstreet Boys. Hell, their songs sound just like variations of "I Want It That Way".
- Tubby Fenders, the dreaded hip hop mogul, is an obvious one to Suge Knight.
- From the Mouths of Babes: Senator Spinkle's son being a fan of Dr. S results in some... very particular ways of expressing himself.Senator Spinkle's Son: I love you, Mom!...In the butt!
- Informed Judaism: Marci is about as Jewish as she is a hip-hop princess, maybe even less — which is all the more bizarre considering that not only is she played by a Jewish actress, but the film's writer and director were also Jewish.
- Jewish American Princess: Promotional material used the exact same term to describe Marci. However, as mentioned in Informed Judaism, in the movie proper she is about as Jewish as she is a hip-hop princess, which is next to none.
- Luxury Prison Suite: Tubby looks like he lives in a prison-themed luxury condo and not a prison cell.
- May–December Romance: Marci's dad eventually starts dating Dr. S's ex-girlfriend.
- Moral Guardians: Senator Mary Ellen Spinkle, who vows to banish Dr. S and his offensive lyrics from the airwaves forever.
- Piss-Take Rap: Marci's rap. Not to the crowd, though.
- Pretty Fly for a White Guy:
- Marci at one point has to show, on stage at a rap concert, that she is "real". She succeeds.
- There's also the spontaneous "Kenyan dance" Marci does at a nightclub with her friends.
- The film's epilogue shows that Marci's dad has quite embraced the image of his gangsta rap record label.
- Take That!: Nobody is excited or looking forward to winning a dinner date with Donald Trump.
- Title Drop: In the epilogue, Marci raps that she has discovered her true calling in life as a fashion designer and has started her own brand called "Marci X."
- Totally Radical: The movie tries very hard to be "hip". In fact, this is Marci's way of connecting with Dr. S.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The film ends with a musical number accompanied with according characters and texts that explain their fates, such as Marci and Dr. S marrying and Marci's dad dating S's ex.
- Worst News Judgment Ever: The front pages of seemingly every newspaper in America call for the heads of Marci and her father over the fact that a hip-hop artist signed to their label performed a song with some moderately suggestive lyrics. Even accounting for the fact that Senator Spinkle was likely trying rile up the media against Dr. S, the song's lyrics are incredibly tame compared even to contemporary hip-hop and rap songs which featured lyrics describing explicit acts of both sex and violence.
