Frank Ochieng is a guest critic who also writes reviews for his own personal website, located here.

To become a Guest Critic for CINEMA 2000, please notify David Keyes.

Review Uploaded
08/09/02

Frank's film tip: "You So Crazy" if you think Martin Lawrence's random tirade in "Runteldat" is the potent stand-up comedy concert film it pretends to be

Watch out homeboys 'cuz manic actor-comedian Martin Lawrence is in the house! After a series of cinematic duds (anyone still trying to recover from the recent mockish misfire "Black Knight?"), Lawrence is back and in raw form with a stand-up comedy concert film entitled "Martin Lawrence Live: Runteldat". "Runteldat", originally part of Lawrence's 2001 comedy tour, suspiciously conjures up reminiscences of caustic concert flicks such as Richard Pryor's classic offering "Live on the Sunset Strip" or Eddie Murphy's "Delirious". But Lawrence somehow struggles to carry off using his stand-up gig as a legitimate pulpit to express his outrageous real-life exploits the way Pryor did in "Sunset Strip" with hilarious, astonishing conviction and insight. "Runteldat" is occasionally irreverent in its jolting sting, but the film appears sporadically flat in its rambling verve.

Director David Raynr ("Whatever It Takes") focuses his camera on a revved-up Lawrence who parades around the stage like a rooster who took an extra dose of pep pills. "Runteldat" is the companion piece to Lawrence's frantic 1994 concert film "You So Crazy". Basically, Lawrence's hectic stand-up routine tries to address the issues of the entertainer's highly-publicized idiosyncrasies while using the wild humor as a measuring stick for the unexplainable insanity. Whereas the legendary and complex Pryor recalled his regrettable and personalized incidents with humility and fierce forethought, Lawrence never approaches his material from that same angle. Instead, the hyperactive comic is so busy being defensive about his misguided actions that he never takes any adequate time to examine his controversial involvements from a raucously genuine perspective.

There's never a real sympathetic bone in your body to embrace the volatile Lawrence as a tragic target of the media-hyped misfits looking to take down this riotous hotshot. If anything, Lawrence conventionally uses his concert film as an incoherent gripe session while snapping off sarcastic witty quips such as "I ain't waitin' for the "E! True Hollywood Story"! Well, that's a shame because "E! True Hollywood Story" would probably do a much better job at presenting the conflicted Martin Lawrence and his bewildering mindset than this aimless, self-congratulatory concert proceeding that he conveniently passes off as an honest-to-goodness scabrous showcase.

Anyone who has followed Martin Lawrence's career on stage, television and in the movies knows how capable this high-wire character could be in terms of the intended hilarity. Although "Runteldat" is uneven in many aspects, nobody can deny Lawrence's ability to command the stage while invading one's funnybone. In some respect, he doesn't disappoint and that "Def Comedy Jam"-like persona spills out in knee-slapping droves. His routines heavily consist of cockeyed caricatures whom strike a chord because of the skillful usage of facial expressions and bizarre voice inflictions. And the signature crudeness that Lawrence incorporates into his act is typical and an excusable reason to split a gut in guilt-minded fashion. Lawrence's comedy, for the most part, is about shock value and this can be considered a hit-or-miss component in this patchy laughfest vehicle.

Among some of the topical giggles that Lawrence provokes with naughty aplomb are bits about a militant Martin Luther King Jr., his run-ins with the law over the years, the September 11 aftermath and the so-called "brotherhood" pact, a wicked take on women and their "issues", dealing with wives and their drunken husbands and peculiar parenting advice...just to touch upon a few pointers in the warped universe that is Martin Lawrence.

"Martin Lawrence Live: Runteldat" is too much of a mixed bag to be deemed an explosive expose' of one performer's observation for paying the price of being in the spotlight. The trouble here is that Lawrence doesn't humble himself enough to realize that the nonsensical antics are the result of his own doing and he never seizes the opportunity to have fun with his self-appointed agony. He's willing to point the finger at the vicious media and make himself out as the sacrificial lamb for unfair slaughter. But this tactic only comes off as desperate and attention-getting (check out the opening montage of news and movie clips about Lawrence's showbiz entanglements).

If Lawrence is in the mood to be accusatory of the same medium that brought him his current fame and riches, then maybe "Runteldat" serves as a therapuetic solution to an everlasting problem regarding the comedian's loose-minded demons. As an entertainment, this film will bog you down in a morass of egotistical static that is the savvy motor-mouthed comic. And if you appreciate the one-sided theme to Lawrence's over-indulgent tirade, then knock yourself out and enjoy the big screen postcard that is a self-glorified Martin Lawrence lovefest. If you are willing to do this, then you so crazy!

Frank rates this film: stars