Bringing Down the House (2003)

To me, this movie is perfection.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This film's bad reviews seem to be mostly in regards to its racism featured within the story. Although I think the film was trying to poke fun at racists in a satirical way, to be honest it did make me pretty uncomfortable. I mean, of course the character who's a convicted felon in prison HAS to be a black woman, not the lawyer she pretends to be online. Of course most of the rich characters are white, sophisticated and nonchalantly make statements such as "oh my, I thought I heard negro in here!" And that plantation song bit was really special, too. I'm not sure whether to find it weirdly offensive or offensively weird. The film does have some solid acting and genuinely good moments, but a lot of its "jokes" were either annoying, racist, lame or just plain bizarre. I'm a sucker for lawyer films, but there were hardly any redeemable qualities in these characters at all. Martin and Latifah are both first-rate actors and do put in a lot of effort with their roles. It shows a lot on-screen as their characters come to realize that they have a lot more in common than they realize, but sadly they get really overshadowed by the sheer ridiculousness of the surrounding characters and the cliche plot, which has already been done a million times before in one form or another.

Peter Sanderson (Steve Martin) is a straight forward tax attorney who still loves his ex-wife Kate (Jean Smart) even though she has a new boytoy in her life. He disappoints his kids once again while courting heiress Virginia Arness (Joan Plowright) as a client. He has an on-line friendship with LawyerGirl but her photo is misleading. Instead of a slim blonde lawyer, she's actually prison escapee Charlene Morton (Queen Latifah) who insists on her innocence. She hounds him until he's willing to help her clear her name. His work friend Howie Rottman (Eugene Levy) helps out and he is infatuated with the streetwise Charlene. Kate's sister Ashley (Missi Pyle) and Peter's neighbor Mrs. Kline (Betty White) suspect something's wrong with the supposed nanny.This is a workable concept of an uptight white guy trying to deal with a black urban woman. It's a broad odd-couple PG-comedy from the 80s. It's not inappropriate enough to be funny. It's not sharp enough to be edgy. It doesn't handle race with enough deft. Steve Martin is playing this slightly dated. The whole thing feels dated. I like Queen Latifah's earthiness. Their chemistry is almost there. This is a small miss. At least, Eugene Levy gets a few inappropriate laughs and Missi Pyle gets into a ridiculous fight with the Queen.

Steve Martin to Me isn't very funny. I've never really got why many consider him to be a Comedy great and have never found myself laughing hysterically to anything hes either done or been in, and this film is no different. As its Queen Latifah and the Supporting cast, Mainly Betty White, Missi Pyle and Joan Plowright create the majority of laughs during the film. Martin plays a lawyer and Latifah Plays a convicted felon, who end up together following a meeting through an online dating site where Latifah pretends to be a fellow lawyer. And so Comedy Ensues (or so they think it does), and after a few laughs we end up with Steve pretending to be from the Hood and involved in a dance off with numerous gang members. This is easily the most excruciating moment of the film as quite frankly clearly knowing there hasn't been a laugh in 30 minutes the filmmakers resort to visual humour that would only amuse you if your either an 8 year old boy or have just sat down to your first movie after your first lobotomy. Despite this the plot is just interesting enough to keep your eyes forward and not wandering up to count the ceiling tiles, and although it does feel very "seen it all before", Latifah's character Charlene shines through and provides enough laughs for this to still be labeled as a comedy. In Summary, Laughs come from everyone but Martin who as the "Comedian" in the film does little to showcase his, to be honest, Overrated talent.

That is not to say all of Steve Martin's films are terrible, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, The Jerk, Man with Two Brains and Roxanne were gems, Father of the Bride is better than it is given credit for and the Cheaper By the Dozen movies while deeply flawed were watchable. But for several reasons, Bringing Down the House was just awful. Steve Martin isn't necessarily bad in it, he does try hard, as does Queen Latifah, but their chemistry is badly forced and they are further hampered by an awful script and a predictable story. Eugene Levy is usually excellent but he is wasted here, and the direction is lacklustre too. The film looks okay, with some nice cinematography and scenery, and the soundtrack has its moments that I accept, but the above points and the stereotypes and unintentional yet apparent racism and homophobia really spoil what could have been a decent comedy making it almost unwatchable. 2/10 Bethany Cox