Life (1999)

Simply Perfect

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

One of the best movies ever. So many great stars in this movie,all together for one time. This is an epic FKN CLASSIC film. They don't make em like this anymore. Well maybe some Kevin Hart and Martin Lawrence... Yes! Deep movie about real true life personal relationship. This movie is real. Not many people in REAL LIFE get to experience the beauty of the friendship and bond displayed in this film. But it is possible. It is real. Don't give up on people.

Knowing that Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence were starring in this 1999 comedy "Life", I was expecting a spontaneous array of fun-loving over-the-top comical performers frolicking in scenes playing off each other's zany ways in a story we can all sink our teeth into. While they did co-star in 1992's film "Boomerang", when they collaborated, the duo were resting on the coattails of successful films like Murphy in "The Nutty Professor" and "Dr. Doolittle" and Lawrence was making us giggle in "Bad Boys" and "Big Mama's House". Sure we were expecting these two to go into full improvising in hopes to brighten up anyone's bad day, but by the end, "Life" is still very short-changed in expectations. The laughs are aplenty due to the ensemble and Ted Demme's methodical direction, but the film is is very unsatisfying due to the limited intriguing scenes and character chemistry and conflict, that was pushed back due to the lagging script that can't decide if it wants to a comedy or a comedy-drama that holds back what Murphy and Lawrence are capable of.Murphy stars as Rayford "Ray" Gibson a hustler and Lawrence as sincere banker Claude Banks whose ambition was to get a legitimate job as a teller at the First Federal in Manhattan to provide wealth for himself and his girlfriend (Saana Lathan). Ray and Claude meet at Spanky's Nightclub where Spanky (Rick James) assigns the duo on a bootlegging assignment to pay off their debt, as they go South to Mississippi to purchase some "hooch". While there, an associate of Ray's gets killed and corrupt Caucasian locals frame Ray and Claude of a crime they did not commit. The duo are arrested and sentenced to a life sentence and sent to prison camp. There they are introduced to inmates like Jangle Leg (Bernie Mac) and the intimidating Goldmouth (Michael Taliferro). While imprisoned, Ray and Clause are warned by Sgt. Dillard (Nick Cassavetes) that any attempts to escape equals certain death. By the 1940's they befriend a promising baseball star named Can't-Get-Right (Bookeem Woodbine) and in the 1970's they are befriended by a sympathetic superintendent Wilkins (Ned Beatty) who finally are given their freedom by the 1990's. And sure the odd couple pairing of Ray and Claude provide laughs while remain disgusted with each other the longer they've been jailed.This movie should've been a comedic gem, with equal screen time between Murphy and Lawrence, and the confident direction from the late Ted Demme who can do comedy quite capably like in "The Ref", and the supporting cast had their moments of humorous scenes. The process of time shows process as Ray and Claude are wasting away while imprisoned for something they didn't do. We should have had more check-ups on them every five years, but instead we're only given four eras of their life in jail and leaves out on the spaces in between which deters the sympathy we have for this unfortunate duo. It feels rushed from serving it purpose to the short title and can't find the meaning of how it all sums down to.The script by Robert Ramsey and Matthew Stone feels at times just random while lacking in anything reflective even though Murphy and Lawrence take control over their roles admirably and Demme tries to keep the direction flowing splendidly and liberates the cast improvise their lines to keep the humour going and to show that the cast enjoy working together. The mismanagement holds the film from being a true cinematic masterpiece as it wanders from standard comedy to comedy-drama as Ray and Claude finally see life outside the walls of prison camp while an inmate takes his life to avoid living the outside world. There's also an underdone subplot involving the superintendent that feels rushed it leaves lots of questions unanswered. There are some wonderful moments, but very sporadically featured as Demme tries to keep his film funny and meaningful when it needed to be consistent and more emphasis on the passage of time and the hardships it had on Ray and Claude.

Sentenced to life in prison after they are wrongfully convicted of murder, two would-be bootleggers gain popularity among their inmates for their repeated escape attempts in this lively comedy. Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence bounce well off one another in the main roles with a friendship that gets worn and tested throughout. The real fun of the film only begins though after the one-hour mark with the film fast-forwarding several decades to focus on Murphy and Lawrence as old men, still sticking it to the same warden (played by Nick Cassavetes) and still as youthful as ever when it comes to plotting escapes and egging one another on. The makeup effects to age Murphy, Lawrence and Cassavetes are nothing short of remarkable too and were deservedly nominated for an Academy Award at the time. That said, the first hour of the film is not without merit. There is a highly memorable "I am Spartacus!" parody as a governor tries to work out which inmate has fathered his daughter's baby and a darkly comical letter-from-home reading session. Some of the initial scenes (before they are imprisoned) work well too, with a special mention to a scene in which the duo unsuccessfully try to purchase a pie. And yet, there is little denying that the final third of the film is by far the juiciest section, topped off with an ending that is hard to forget. For a laugh-out-loud and totally enthralling Eddie Murphy comedy, 'Bowfinger' is a safer better, but this other 1999 effort from the Oscar nominated star is not half-bad, even if it only achieves greatness towards the end.

Life (1999) The extremely comedic movie Life starring Ray Gibson (Eddie Murphy) and Claude Banks (Martin Lawrence), taking place in the 1920s, is, in a nutshell, about a con artist Ray Gibson, and Claude Banks, who served 65 years of a life sentence for a crime neither of them never committed. One significant aspect of the movie that made it very charming, was the fact that Ray and Claude hardly got along during those 65 years they spent together, but then in the end they ended up being best friends when they were old and free, which you can see in the end when you see them together at a baseball game enjoying each other's company after had fooled everyone that they died in a tragic fire. However it wasn't all happiness in this movie, it did have some sadness in it too, for example when you got to know all the inmates that were imprisoned with Claude and Ray, you regarded them as family. But then as you keep watching the movie you see them all going away one by one, which was very sad. All in all it was a great movie that was filled with comedy, inconvenience and a grain of sadness too, which made it into the crazy adventurous movie that is Life.