"Code Name: The Cleaner" should be wiped off the screen

The idea behind "Code Name: the Cleaner" — a silly comedy about a man who loses his memory — is one we've seen before (think "50 First Dates"). But this movie also features cool action scenes, which are supposed to separate it from the lame romantic comedy. Unfortunately, not even the most exciting fights in "Cleaner" compensate for its meaningless storyline and cheesy jokes.

Jake Rodgers (Cedric the Entertainer) is a janitor who is going through an amnesia-induced identity crisis. He struggles to find clues in his disjointed flashbacks to help him remember whether or not he is secretly an undercover agent for the FBI, CIA or any other cool organization in which "getting the dirt" means spying on someone rather than cleaning a toilet. But whether Jake's job involves fighting crime or grime, one thing is for certain. A group of FBI agents is on his tail — he just cannot remember why.

The scenes in "Cleaner" all look pretty much the same: a confused pudgy man runs breathlessly from the cops, pausing occasionally to do a weird dance or martial arts move or to gaze longingly at an attractive woman's behind. One of these women is Diane (Nicollette Sheridan), who, to Jake's shock, claims to be his wife ("I'm married? To a white woman?!" he exclaims). But the more lovable character is the gorgeous Gina (Lucy Liu), a waitress who the memory-impaired custodian is ecstatic to discover is his beau, though Jake is a bit perplexed that he has both a wife and a girlfriend.

Although Jake is (maybe) an undercover agent, it comes as no surprise, based on Liu's previous roles, that Gina has all the kick-butt, Charlie's Angels-esque moves. When two FBI agents jump on top of her car in a getaway scene, Gina fires at the men through the roof of the vehicle, then swerves suddenly, tossing them off her car and into another car's windshield almost as casually as she tosses her hair.

But aside from the chance to watch Liu kick some serious butt, the film has little to offer. The scenes are only funny to the viewer who can laugh at their sheer stupidity. A fellow janitor at Jake's workplace, for instance, is an aspiring rap artist who writes songs about, as he calls it, "doo-doo." When interrogated by the FBI about Jake, the janitor begs to be shot — in no place other than the rear end, (this seems to be some sort of motif in this movie) — so that he can finally earn street credibility. The butt-obsession in the film comes up at the beginning as well, when Jake wakes up from a flashback to find himself convulsively spanking an elderly woman in an elevator (oddly, she seems to enjoy it).

The comedy in the movie that is not butt-oriented is just as meaningless and cheesy. When sneaking into the hotel where many of his flashbacks take place to try to find clues as to his own identity, Jake disguises himself as a member of a group of Dutch dancers. Predictably, he winds up on stage and has no choice but to improvise his way through the performance. Clueless about Dutch dancing, he resorts to a bizarre combination of booty shaking and futile attempts to mimic what everyone around him is doing. The effect, like the movie as a whole, is terribly corny.

Though mind-numbingly lame, "Cleaner" could be considered by some viewers so dumb that it's actually funny. For these viewers alone is it worth paying to watch a helpless janitor run from the cops and embarrass himself for an hour and a half.

"Code Name: the Cleaner" (84 minutes, area theaters) is rated PG-13 for sexual content, crude humor and some violence.