A recurring gag throughout the film involves Jackson seeing himself on TV with notably different facial features, i.e. thinner lips, straight hair, and a lighter complexion.

As Kate tries to transform Dexter's urban image (mainly his dreadlocks, clothing, and vocabulary), he begins questioning whether he's starting to sell out as he becomes more and more successful.

He alienates those close to him with tabloid-style exposé stories, such as a local barber's illegal numbers racket and a restaurant's unhealthy cooking style.

Film critic Desson Howe wrote in The Washington Post that the movie is "too bland to be offensive" and "mediocre pap" with a "heavy-hitting theme [that] is a smokescreen for an absence of fire," that it "retreads all-too-familiar territory," and noted that "You don't need a lifetime of sitcom TV viewing to see where this is going.

"[3] Roger Ebert described the film as "beginning with a terrific idea for a movie, and then works hard, and successfully, to whittle it down to the level of a brainless sitcom.