Life A Movie Review	MPAA Rated - R It's 1:40 Long A Review by The Dude on the Right

"Life" tells the story of two convicts, Ray, played by Murphy, and Claude, played by Martin Lawrence. Wrongfully convicted of a murder in Mississippi, the movie follows Ray and Claude through their prison term, as well as the cast of inmates ranging from the big ol' bad-ass dude, to the gay dude, from the "able to get out because of his baseball ability" dude, to the techno dude. Through this time we get to see Ray and Claude try by many different means to get out of jail. Their attempts range from just running through the woods with a fake map that Ray drew up to Claude trying to get an appeal, from Ray thinking he can fly a crop-duster, to Claude thinking if they train the baseball dude that they will get out as his trainers. Time and time again they fail, usually blaming each other for getting caught again, and all of the while denying that they have become friends.

There are more elements to this story, like the head guard who "marries" Claude and his girl so he could get a conjugate visit (for a price of course), and the re-emergence of the murderer who set up Ray and Claude (alright, piss and moan about me spoiling that part, but if you didn't see it coming, well, let me suggest you take a refresher course in Filmmaking 101 - Tying up loose ends).

I liked "Life" for the simple fact that Eddie Murphy does what he does best - be Eddie Murphy, and those tend to be the Eddie Murphy movies that I like. As an added benefit we also get Martin Lawrence, whom I usually don't think is funny, but thought he paired great with Eddie as they bounced jokes off of each other, sneered at each other for ruining the escape plan, and becoming grumpy old men together. And speaking of becoming grumpy old men, kudos to the make-up people for the transformation of Ray and Claude into 90 year old dudes. Eddie and Martin now know what they have to look forward to.

"Life" drags a little, especially at the beginning when Ray and Claude get put together to make a moonshine run, but once the two end up in jail, well, that's when the movie clicks, partly because of Eddie and Martin being able to work together, but probably more because they have a cast of inmates who are great to work with also.

I enjoyed "Life," and think you might also, especially if you like Eddie Murphy being Eddie Murphy. I give "Life" 3 ½ stars out of 5. It would have been more, but there was that first half-hour of the film that bored me a little.

That's it for this one!  I'm The Dude on the Right!!  L8R!!!