MPAA Rated – PG-13
It’s 1:38 Long
A Review by:
– The Dude on the Right
| Big Momma’s House Movie Stats & Links |
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| Starring: | Martin Lawrence, Paul Giamatti, Nia Long |
| MPAA Rated: | PG-13 |
| Released By: | 20th Century Fox |
| Release Date: | 2000 |
| Kiddie Movie: | They will probably find Big Momma funny but might not know why. |
| Date Movie: | She might chuckle or wonder why you brought her to such a piece of garbage. |
| Gratuitous Sex: | Nah. |
| Gratuitous Violence: | Some fighting. |
| Action: | Nah. |
| Laughs: | Simple humor. |
| Memorable Scene: | None. |
| Memorable Quote: | None. |
| Directed By: | Raja Gosnell |
Sometimes it was funny. Sometimes it was dumb. Most of the time it just tried to hard or didn’t push the envelope far enough. The movie was “Big Momma’s House.”
The story isn’t new – Cops go on a stakeout, one cop, in disguise, falls in love with stakeout victim, other cop keeps telling him he’s getting too close, cop dismisses it, cops catch bad guy, cop in love gets the girl. The quickest other movie references that comes to mind are the “Stakeout” movie series. This time we’ve got Martin Lawrence and Paul Giamatti as the cops and Nia Long as the person their protecting/staking out. Martin plays Malcom, and also Big Momma in disguise. Paul is John, and Nia is hot, oh wait, I mean Sherry. Sherry is on the run from her escaped-from-prison ex-boyfriend, and decides Big Momma’s house is the place to be. The real Big Momma is out of town for a few days. And Malcom, the master of disguises, decides he can pull off being Big Momma. Donning a mask, some giant inserts, and a new voice, Malcolm works to find out if Sherry is a bad girl or good girl, all the while knowing that her ex-boyfriend will probably show up for some old money lying around. Malcolm’s in love, John doesn’t really know what to do, and Sherry loves Big Momma and is falling in love with the Malcolm while not in disguise because he’s just a really nice guy.
Yea, you can figure the ending – The bad guy gets captured, Malcolm has to explain himself to Sherry, and everyone lives happily ever after.
The story is simple, so giving things away like I did don’t really hurt watching the movie much. It’s that laughs that try to hard. The jokes are easy – the big, ol’ black lady working the town jokes, taking a dump jokes, guy loves girl jokes, nosey neighbor jokes, and I think you get the point. They come and they come a lot, but they don’t push the envelope to gross-out or gut-busting and that is where this movie comes up short, which is too bad because Martin Lawrence keeps trying so hard but just can’t find the right movie to put him to the next level. I like Martin, think he can be very funny, but just can’t find that role to make him a must-see at a movie.
So, did I like the movie? At times, yes, it made me chuckle. But, at times, no, it made me just wonder why this or that scene should be funny. It just didn’t hit the “cute” level it seemed to be reaching for. With that I give “Big Momma’s House” 2 stars out of 5. There was a lot of potential it just didn’t reach.
That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!