After watching “Bringing Down the House”, I wonder if studio executives simply mix and match old movie plots to come up with their next release. You can almost imagine the conversation. Executive One says, “Let’s do a comedy with one part ‘You’ve Got Mail,’ one part ‘The Odd Couple’ and two parts stereotypical humor.”
Then Executive Two adds, “Great idea! We’ll cast Steve Martin and Queen Latifah to bring in the black and white audiences and have a huge hit on our hands.” If filmmaking was like chemistry it would be that easy. Fortunately, it’s not.
If you find slavery funny you might like this film, but with all of the offensive racial humor, “Bringing Downt the House” is one Disney film that families can certainly do without.
The initial setup involves high-priced tax lawyer Peter Sanderson’s (Steve Martin, “Bowfinger” and “Planes, Trains and Automobiles”) Internet love connection with a supposed refined Ivy League barrister who turns out to be ex-con Charlene Morton (Queen Latifah, Oscar nominee for “Chicago”) fresh out of jail.
Under duress, Peter ends up representing her on her appeal. If he can prove her innocent, she won’t embarrass him at work. Since she’s black and his boss’s sister and Peter’s neighbor (Betty White) is a racist, he could easily lose his job.
Subplots are everywhere. Peter is divorced from Kate (Jean Smart) but still loves her. They share custody of two adorable kids, Georgey (Angus T. Jones), who should be reading by now but isn’t, and Sarah (Kimberly J. Brown), who shouldn’t be sneaking out of the house but is.
Meanwhile, at work Peter is trying to land a conservative billionaire client, Mrs. Arness (Joan Plowright). Comedian Eugene Levy is the movie’s scene stealer as Howie Rosenthal, Peter’s partner and Charlene’s would-be lover.
There are two really memorable moments in the film – not counting those offensive times that might embarrass you for having bought a ticket. The first cute scene has Charlene in a no-holds-barred fight with Ashley (Missi Pyle), Kate’s sister. (Ashley dates men so old that they have to wear oxygen masks to dinner and have to be fed because they drool all over themselves.)
The other humorous sequence occurs in an all-black nightclub, where Peter goes and does his best Eminem rendition.
Most of the other jokes fall flat. Seeing Martin dance makes me think of his performances in “The Jerk” or the “Wild and Crazy Guys” skit on “Saturday Night Live.” Memo to your agent Mr. Martin – don’t let producers write in a dance scene for you ever again. It gives white men every where a bad name.
Other lines are so distasteful that I am sure it will give some viewers pause. A song about slavery that Mrs. Arness sings at dinner and which she wants Charlene to join in singing has to be one of this year’s cinematic low points.
Personally, I don’t mind any movie being a little “politically incorrect,” but when the entire picture is based around stereotypes of all types, from WASP men who work too much and ignore their families, older white women who are miserly, uptight and still refer to all African-Americans as “negroes,” to black women who have big asses and love to talk about “getting freaky” and black guys who are all either “gangstas” or friends of “the herb,” you have to step back for a second and wonder what the “deallio” really is.
It goes without saying that if you don’t enjoy stereotypes, stay far away from this movie.
All in all, not much to recommend with the exception of Latifah, who certainly shows that she had the chops to be a sexy lead in a romantic comedy here as well. Hopefully her agent will give her better advice the next time around.
