Movie Review: Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins

Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins (2008) 

Directed by Malcolm D. Lee 

Written by Malcolm D. Lee 

Starring Martin Lawrence, Joy Bryant, Michael Clarke Duncan, Cedric the Entertainer, James Earl Jones

Release Date February 8th, 2008

Published February 9th, 2008

Martin Lawrence's dimming star power gets no boost from his latest strained effort, the alleged family comedy Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins. In Welcome Home Martin Lawrence plays Dr. RJ Stevens, a Jerry Springer-esque character with a hint of Dr. Phil. His high profile talk show has made him a celebrity but it is his new alliance with fiancée, and Survivor TV show winner, Bianca (Joy Bryant) that has secured his status as a top Hollywood player. However, no matter how much success Dr. Stevens accumulates he remains Roscoe Jenkins when he returns home to his parents house in the deep south.

It is Papa and Mama Jenkins (James Earl Jones and Margeret Avery) 50th Anniversary and though Roscoe hasn't been home in nine years his fiancée see's an opportunity for great TV. They, along with his 9 year old son Jamaal (Damani Roberts) will return home and film the whole event for the Dr. Stevens' show. Returning home of course offers other challenges like the family's many athletic competitions where Roscoe was repeatedly victimized by his cousin Clyde (Cedric The Entertainer). One of the most successful used car salesmen in the south, Clyde relishes the opportunity to once again show up his cousin, even going as far as bringing along Roscoe's childhood crush Lucinda (Nicole Ari Parker) as his date. She maintains that they are just friends.

Then there are Roscoe's immediate family. His brother Otis (Michael Clarke Duncan) a former all American linebacker now a small town sheriff and his sister Betty (Monique) a prison 'counselor' whose personal life is spotted with a number of criminal dalliances. Then there is cousin Reggie (Mike Epps) whose ability to find money without ever having a job is legendary in the family. Reggie brings along his dog who tormented Roscoe throughout his childhood and now turns his eyes towards Bianca's toy pup in one of this films many objectionable subplots.

If from this description you can't figure out the exact trajectory of this plot then you really haven't seen many movies. As predictable as the sunrise, Roscoe rekindles his romance with Lucinda as Bianca becomes more and more a victim of Roscoe's family. The film's perspective is that being rich and successful is bad and being down home and 'real' is all there is to life. Not a bad perspective but a limiting one. Roscoe isn't such a bad guy or even an unreasonable guy. His perspective is shaped by years of what he feels were slights from his father who seemed to give favor to Clyde and Roscoe's older siblings, though he gave his name to Roscoe.

Naturally, earning daddy's love is a major theme that plays out for Roscoe on two fronts. There is his trying to impress Papa Jenkins and his dealing with his own son, at first advising him on the importance of winning at all cost and eventually trying to let him be a kid. This subplot is part of director Malcom Lee's attempt at depth an attempt he undercuts every other turn of the plot. How seriously can you take any movie that takes such delight in the sex lives of dogs. Indeed, Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins has a number of jokes aimed at one giant dog attempting to mount a tiny toy pooch. Why is this funny?

Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins has yet another plot piece that has become popular in comedies that aren't all that funny. Mike Epps joins the cast in what has come to be called the Wanda Sykes role. It is Epps' job to enter scenes that are flailing for a joke and make a humorous observation and then exit the scene. Unfortunately, where Sykes' non-sequiter observations Monster In Law and Evan Almighty could fool people into thinking the movie was funny, Epps' more heavy handed approach lacks the same zing and ability to pull the wool over our eyes.

Malcolm Lee is not an untalented director but certainly undisciplined. A better director drops the dog jokes better utilizes Mike Epps talent for the one liner and is bolder than falling back on non-sequiters. If the script isn't strong enough without Mike Epps' character having to try to rescue every scene with one liners then go back to the drawing board, flesh out your characters and find some truth to bring forth from these characters. Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins is undercooked and underserves it's audience with warm over homilies about family life in the south and a struggling Martin Lawrence.

Movie Review: Codename The Cleaner

Codename The Cleaner (2006) 

Directed by Les Mayfield 

Written by George Gallo 

Starring Cedric the Entertainer, Lucy Liu 

Release Date January 5th, 2006 

Published January 5th, 2006

I like Cedric The Entertainer, as a stand up comic. As part of the Original Kings of Comedy and on his own HBO comedy special, Cedric has shown a real talent for ribald racial humor and sly family comedy, along with indulging his love of music and humorous dance productions. His film work however, has never been able to capture the same affable personality.

As a matter of fact, Cedric’s film career has simply sucked. From Johnson Family Vacation to Man of the House to his latest starring effort Codename: The Cleaner, Cedric The Entertainer has flailed and flopped about in search of a good joke and most often comes up empty.

Codename: The Cleaner actually has what could be a clever premise in more skilled hands. Combining a dash of Chris Nolan's Memento with a touch of The Bourne Identity inside a comedy plot, the idea is there, but the execution is pitiful.

Jake Rogers (Cedric The Entertainer) woke up on the wrong side of the wrong bed this morning. Unable to remember his own name, Jake has even bigger problems than amnesia. There is a dead FBI agent in the bed with him and a suitcase full of hundred dollar bills at the foot of the bed. Did Jake kill this guy? If so why? If not, who did?

In the lobby Jake meets Diane (Nicolette Sheridan) who claims to be his wife. She knows all about his desperate situation and spirits him away to a mansion that he has no memory of living in. Jake has some kind of computer chip hidden somewhere that might help him clear his memory and figure out what all is happening and Diane desperately wants it. When her seduction skills fail to jog Jake's memory she plans to torture him, but before she can Jake escapes.

Following what little clues he has about himself, a video game company ID card and a taste for pancakes, Jake finds himself at a diner across from the videogame company where he is greeted by yet another beautiful woman, Gina (Lucy Liu), who also claims to be his significant other. She informs Jake that he is no more than a simple janitor, but Jake can't shake the idea that he is somehow a high powered secret agent.

Directed by Les Mayfield (Blue Streak,American Outlaws), Codename: The Cleaner plays like a script Martin Lawrence passed on several years ago. Cedric The Entertainer mugs and moons all he can to try inject some life into this film, one made for a big comic personality like his, but unfortunately, the goofy plot and Mayfield's inept direction keep interrupting Cedric's flow.

The comedy of Codename: The Cleaner works in small doses of Cedric being Cedric. In investigating his mysterious situation, Jake finds himself dressed in Dutch boy blues and clog dancing for a wildly entertained crowd. This is Cedric The Entertainer in his comfort zone, acting goofy; independent of the ridiculous plot. The scene is entirely unnecessary and superfluous but it's also one of the rare funny moments in otherwise laughless exercise.

I've liked Lucy Liu since her weird/sexy role on TV's Ally McBeal. It's a shame that her film career has been so wildly hit and miss. Her starring roles here and in the action flick Ballistic: Ecks Vs Sever show that she should definitely avoid titles with colons in the middle, but also that maybe being a lead actress is not her strong suit. Supporting roles in Kill Bill Vol. 1 and this year's terrific but sadly underseen, Lucky Number Slevin, have been a far better showcase for her skill, her range and her beauty.

There is no denying that Cedric The Entertainer is a funny guy and that even in something as idiotic as Codename: The Cleaner he can find laughs. But no matter how funny Cedric is; Codename: The Cleaner was doomed the moment director Les Mayfield took the helm. Mayfield's resume reads like something only a mother, or Shawn Levy, could love. Blue Streak, American Outlaws, The Man, Ugh! Les Mayfield is to bad comedy what Uwe Boll is to the poorly made video game based horror film.

Now I always seem to get emails when I inject large issues into innocuous movies, especially when I talk about the treatment of women in films. However, Codename: The Cleaner is yet another film that treats its female cast members with contempt. There is no doubt that both Lucy Liu and Nicolette Sheridan are beautiful women who turn heads whether in business attire or bikinis, but was it necessary for them to wrestle nearly nude in bubbles? Not that I didn't enjoy the visual, but the gratuity of this dream sequence is beyond anything any right thinking director could justify.

As attractive as the visual is, I felt ashamed for Lucy Liu for taking part in such a degrading and unnecessary scene. As for Sheridan, her towel drop with Terrell Owens on Monday Night Football and her regular gig in the nighttime soap Desperate Housewives makes such a scene rather par for the course for her career which also includes a number of softcore straight to video flicks. That fact doesn’t change how sexist and pointless this scene was. 

Codename: The Cleaner is not offensively bad but it's far from anything I could recommend even to the most ardent fan of Cedric The Entertainer. Director Les Mayfield continues an embarrassing string of unfunny films that is likely to continue regardless of this film's box office failure. Like an old school studio hack, Mayfield makes the kind of cheap, high concept garbage that studios seem to like dumping into January, February and other non-blockbuster months.

As long as there are stand up comics in need of a quick paycheck and studios in need of dim-witted filler material; the Les Mayfield's of the world will always find work.

Movie Review: Barbershop 2

Barbershop 2 Back in Business

Directed by Kevin Rodney Sullivan

Written by Don D. Scott 

Starring Ice Cube, Cedric the Entertainer, Sean Patrick Thomas, Eve, Troy Garity, Michael Ealy 

Release Date February 6th, 2004 

Published February 5th, 2004 

There is an insidious disease raging through Hollywood. It's a disease that can afflict any number of good films and seemingly good ideas. It happened to Men In Black, it happened to Jaws, it happened to Jurassic Park and countless other franchises. The disease is sequelitis, and it strikes when Hollywood executives try to take advantage of a successful product by forcing a mediocre money grabbing follow up. 

The latest casualty of sequelitis is the 2002 surprise hit Barbershop starring Ice Cube. The film’s surprise success, nearly 100 million in domestic box office for a film that only cost around 25 million to make, threw execs into a feeding frenzy leading to the creation of an inferior sequel made solely for the purpose of printing money.

Calvin and his charismatic crew of barbers are all back in the shop for another round of loud talking and head cuttin'. The crew, Eddie (Cedric The Entertainer), Ricky (Michael Ealy), Terri (Eve), Dinka (Leonard Earl Howze) and Isaac (Troy Garrity) are still hard at work. Eddie is still stirring things up with controversial topics ranging from Bill Clinton to the DC Sniper. Ricky is moonlighting at school getting his GED while romancing Terri. Dinka has a burgeoning romance with a girl from the neighboring hair salon and Isaac has become a star cutter even signing his work. The crew’s former teammate Jimmy has left the shop to work for a corrupt local alderman played by Robert Wisdom.

The story is a lethargic take on some of the same themes from the first film. In this case, it's the encroachment of big business chain stores in the shop’s southside Chicago neighborhood. A developer played by Harry Lennix is attempting to buy up the neighborhood and replace the tiny mom & pop stores with chains like Starbucks and a new hair salon called Nappy Cutz which he plans to open right across the street from Calvin's. Nappy Cutz offers food, massages, basketball and various other amenities to go with your hair cut.

Calvin tries to be competitive but in doing so, he nearly forgets why his shop became a neighborhood institution in the first place. The film is rounded out by an odd subplot involving Eddie's history in getting work in the barbershop and the woman he nearly married reappearing. The subplot is cute and well played by Cedric The Entertainer but it never feels like anything more than filler. Also on the filler side is a subplot that introduces Queen Latifah as Gina, one of the stylists at the beauty shop next door to Calvin's. The subplot is only in place to setup a spin-off series starring Latifah that will launch later this year.

The Beauty Shop spin-off looks kind of funny but also feels like another very cynical cash grab, another attempt to squeeze this Barbershop cash cow for more and more money.

Barbershop 2 has bright moments, it's just as smart and quick witted as the original film. However, it lacks that first film’s energy and coherence. Especially in its ending which wraps thing's up a little too easily and unsatisfyingly abrupt. Director Kevin Rodney Sullivan, picking up the reigns from Director Tim Story's original, can't seem to find a consistent theme. He has the set pieces, the likable characters and enough smart funny dialogue but not enough of a story to give it all proper context.

Barbershop 2 is not a bad film but it is obviously inferior to the original Barbershop. Another casualty of sequelitis.

Movie Review: Barbershop

Barbershop (2002) 

Directed by Tim Story 

Written by Don D. Scott 

Starring Ice Cube, Cedric the Entertainer, Troy Garity, Eve, Keith David, Anthony Anderson

Release Date September 13th, 2002 

Published September 12th, 2002 

Recently the question was asked what rapper was the best actor. The answer? Ice Cube, and he deserves the accolade. Cube proved he had something with his debut in Boyz In The Hood. But it was Friday that showed Ice Cube was going to be around for a while. Now with Barbershop, Cube may finally shake the rapper actor label altogether and just be seen as an actor.

In Barbershop, Cube is Calvin, owner of a Chicago barbershop once owned by his grandfather and his father. Calvin, however, isn't satisfied running the family business, he would like to run his own record company from his basement. As the day unfolds Calvin decides to sell the shop to a local hustler played by Keith David. 

Meanwhile we get to know Calvin's employees. There is the grizzled vet Eddie (Cedric The Entertainer), the college kid Jimmy (Sean Patrick Thomas), African immigrant Dinka (Leonard Howze), former gangbanger Ricky (Michael Early), the lone white guy Isaac (Troy Garity) and the girl Terri (EVE). Each has their own problems, Ricky is a two time felon who if he gets in trouble again will spend the rest of his life in jail. 

His trouble is compounded by his no good cousin JD (Anthony Anderson) who uses Ricky's truck to steal a newly installed ATM machine from a market just down the street from the barbershop. Terri has a no-good boyfriend who she can't seem to shake, while Dinka is nursing a serious crush on her. Isaac, because he's white, can't get any customers, and is feuding with Jimmy who thinks he knows everything because he went to college. Then there is Eddie. Eddie is the ringleader, he begins the conversations and says everything on his mind no matter what anyone thinks. As Eddie, Cedric The Entertainer delivers the film's funniest performance.

For me though the movie was about Ice Cube. As we watch Barbershop we watch as Ice Cube the actor becomes more mature and relaxed. Cube is in command playing an older wiser character, a guy with dreams that have passed him by who is just now seeing what is real and important. The character of Calvin holds the movie together while observing it from the outside. Calvin is hardly ever involved in the barbershop conversations but he is always watching and his perspective is the audience's perspective. As he realizes how important his shop is to the neighborhood, we in the audience do as well. It is a marvelous performance.

Barbershop does have its flaws, particularly Anthony Anderson as JD. Anderson is becoming a cliché, playing the same character over and over. In Barbershop his constant mugging is tiresome and unnecessary. The film could have done without his entire subplot. Still, Barbershop is a very good movie. For me the most important thing in comedy is consistency. Most films take too long setting up jokes that aren't funny enough to justify the time taken to set them up. In Barbershop, laughs come early and often, making for one of the funniest movies of 2002.

Movie Review Serving Sara

Serving Sara (2002) 

Directed by Reginald Hudlin

Written by Jay Scherick, David Ronn

Starring Matthew Perry, Elizabeth Hurley, Bruce Campbell, Amy Adams, Cedric The Entertainer

Release Date August 23rd, 2002 

Published August 22nd, 2002 

Matthew Perry has long been my favorite member of the Friends cast. Unfortunately I've only ever liked him on Friends. In movies Perry tries really hard to not be Chandler, but comes off as if he were conscious trying not to be Chandler. The result is often forced physical humor and strained vocal and physical affectations that are simply not funny. The trend continues with Serving Sara.

In the film, Perry portrays a process server attempting at first to serve divorce papers on the gorgeous trophy wife of a Texas millionaire played by Bruce "Ash" Campbell. Things change when the trophy wife hires Perry's process server to serve her husband first. Elizabeth Hurley, continuing her attempt to make sure everyone knows she can’t act, plays the trophy wife. She proved that in Bedazzled, and reaffirms it here with a tremendously unfunny, damn near hard to watch performance. Are there any more frightening words than model/slash actress?

As for Perry once again you can see the effort. Perry, in the classic football sense, leaves it all on the field. Pratfalls, bad impersonations, and various wacky setups put Perry through his paces. Unfortunately none of this is funny. Serving Sara serves up a film that might work as an episode of a bad sitcom but as a two hour movie it's dull and feels much longer than it actually is.

I can say one good thing about the film. It's always good to see Bruce Campbell on screen, this man doesn't work enough. Check out his book If Chins Could Kill, this guy is hysterical.