The "one actor, many wigs" trap
There is a specific kind of cinematic vanity project where a talented comedic lead decides to play every member of a family. When it works, you get a classic like The Nutty Professor. When it fails, you get Sextuplets. Marlon Wayans is a gifted physical comedian, but here he is buried under layers of prosthetic makeup and high-pitched voices that never quite coalesce into actual jokes.
The movie follows Alan, a man about to become a father who discovers he has five long-lost siblings. He hits the road with his brother Russell, and the "hilarity" is supposed to ensue as he meets the rest of the brood. The problem is that the script treats the mere existence of these characters as the punchline. You aren't laughing at what they do; you’re expected to laugh because Marlon Wayans is wearing a fat suit or a dress. It’s a gimmick that wears thin by the twenty-minute mark.
Why the "Wayans" brand matters here
If your teen is exploring the history of 2000s-era parody movies, they’ve likely run into the Wayans name. Between Scary Movie and White Chicks, the family defined a specific brand of chaotic, R-rated, or borderline-PG-13 absurdity. Because of that legacy, Sextuplets might pop up in their Netflix recommendations as a "must-watch."
However, there is a massive gap between the sharp, culturally relevant parody of their early work and the stale energy of this 2019 release. While those older movies had a certain "lightning in a bottle" chemistry, Sextuplets feels like it was built for an algorithm rather than an audience. If your kid liked the high-energy slapstick of earlier Wayans projects, they will likely find this version of it surprisingly boring.
The friction of "lowbrow" vs. "lazy"
We don't usually mind lowbrow humor. There’s a time and place for fart jokes and physical gags. The issue here isn't that the movie is "crude"—it’s that it’s lazy.
The 16+ rating from critics and content trackers stems from the reliance on sexual references and stereotypical caricatures. For a modern audience, some of these portrayals might feel more than just unfunny; they can feel dated or even mean-spirited. When a movie isn't landing its jokes, the audience starts to notice the "seams" of the production—the awkward pacing, the repetitive dialogue, and the way the plot grinds to a halt every time a new sibling is introduced.
The "background noise" verdict
If you have a teen who insists on putting this on, it’s best served as a "second screen" movie. This is the kind of content designed for someone to scroll through TikTok while it plays in the background. Because the plot is paper-thin and the characters are so broadly drawn, you can leave the room for fifteen minutes, come back, and not feel like you’ve missed a single beat of the story.
If they are looking for a genuine road-trip comedy or a movie about long-lost family, there are dozens of better options that don't rely on a single actor talking to himself in a series of unconvincing costumes. This isn't a "hidden gem" or a "misunderstood masterpiece"—the 21% critic score is, unfortunately, exactly what the movie earned.
