Bringing Down the House

March 13, 2003

Starring: Steve Martin, Queen Latifah, Eugene Levy, Jean Smart, Michael Rosenbaum, Betty White, Joan Plowright

Director: Adam Shankman

I must admit, the trailer made it look like a hilarious fun movie. It had been a while since Steve Martin had made a good movie and I felt like this was his best looking movie in a long time. Unfortunately, this one was disappointing as you notice after 20 minutes this movie has been done before... many times.

This flick is occasionally funny. And not just giggle funny, it has a few flat out hilarious scenes. The thing that sucks is all the "misses". This movie tries too hard with the "quiet white old man and loud fat black chick" paradox. They should know that just because you put two opposites on screen, have the white man act extremely white and the black girl act extremely black and have Eugene Levy say catch phrase after catch phrase does not make a good movie. You need a story to back it up! Do you think My Big Fat Greek Wedding would have caught on if the story was lame? Exactly.

I don't know what the big deal is with Queen Latifah. Oscar nomination? I barely noticed her in Chicago (which, given her size, is hard to do). Here her overacting and "everything that comes out of my mouth is funny because I`m black" attitude just kills this movie.

Well, I didn't get a whole lot out of this movie otherwise. Some of you might like it, so I say see it at your own risk!

In short:
Comedy: Some, but it's not as funny as the makers think it is
Violence/language: Occasional strong language, non-bloody fights
Nudity/sex: none
High Points: Sometimes funny
Low Points: Too stereotypical, tries too hard to be funny, dumb story.

Rating: C