I do not know what I can really say about this movie, or at least what I would want to say. I always believed that if you cannot say something nice, then you should not say anything at all. However, this movie makes it kind of tough.
The first film, though I did not absolutely love, I did think was pretty funny. But this movie� just is not. It plays for gross-out laughs, but not well. The humor, if you can call it that, just is not there. And no, it is not because of bad timing, or horrible performances, or even just bad direction. The movie is just not funny. I actually found myself giving the movie pity laughs. I would never have even thought it was possible to give pity laughs, but here you go. For the first time, I can actually say there were more laughs in the trailer. That is pretty sad itself because that means a lot of the jokes used in the previews do not work when they go together with the rest of the movie.
Now, since I bashed this movie pretty bad, I should say something nice. The make up is as stunning as it was in the original film and the performances were pretty enjoyable as well. Eddie Murphy is debatably a brilliant actor. At times, I found myself actually forgetting he was playing the parts of the several family members. He is just that good. As well, Janet Jackson is a delight and so easily loveable. And of course, Larry Miller is always a joy, getting probably the most sincere laughs out of me. But, those are pretty much all the positive things I can say. The movie tries to be sincere, but does it at awkward moments, but at least it tries and that is why I�m giving it that extra � *. I must give it praise for the effort. It is a bad movie, but you know the cast and crew tried to deliver to the audience.
