CRASS, contrived and achingly familiar it may be, but Keenen Ivory Wayans' culture-clash comedy possesses a certain charm.

White Chicks also packs more laughs into one washroom sequence than Shark Tale manages in its entirety.

Marcus and Kevin Copeland (Marlon and Shawn Wayans) are FBI agents and brothers with a penchant for elaborate disguises as part of their undercover assignments.

When one of their stings goes disastrously wrong, resulting in thousands of pounds worth of damage, the siblings are given a chance to redeem themselves by acting as bodyguards for society airheads Tiffany and Brittany Wilson (Anne Dudek, Maitland Ward).

The bitchy blondes are en route to a glamorous gathering in the Hamptons, funded by Warren Vandergeld (John Heard), and Marcus and Kevin must ensure that no harm comes to the girls, who are prime targets for a kidnapping ring.

Unfortunately, both bimbettes incur minor injuries in a traffic accident and refuse to leave their hotel room, jeopardising the entire operation.

Unperturbed, Marcus and Kevin call in the services of their FBI make-up chums to transform them into Tiffany and Brittany.

In their new guise as the girls, Marcus and Kevin slowly infiltrate the upper echelons of the Hamptons, including bonding with Tiffany and Brittany's friends Karen (Busy Philipps), Lisa (Jennifer Carpenter) and Tori (Jessica Cauffiel).

As first, the debutante trio are suspicious of the new and improved Tiffany and Brittany, but they soon realise the secret: "Oh my God... collagen! It's totally obvious. And knee surgery? Cool!"

However, not everyone is happy to see Tiffany and Brittany.

Acid-tongued arch rivals Megan (Brittany Daniel) and Heather Vandergold (Jaime King) have no intention of relinquishing their crowns as the belles of the society scene.

They scheme and plot to bring about Tiffany and Brittany's downfall.

The Wayans brothers have a hoot in the leads, defying all logic (both men are completely different body shapes to the girls they are impersonating) to make the preposterous plot hang together.

White Chicks isn't big and it certainly isn't clever but, much as it pains me to admit it, the film is uproariously funny in parts.

Rating 5/10