Queen Latifah serves up royal entertainment in ‘Bringing Down the House’
Queen Latifah is providing some royal entertainment in theaters. She delivers a show-stopping performance – and received an Oscar nomination as best supporting actress – as a bribe-loving prison matron in “Chicago.”
Now, she’s “Bringing Down the House” on Steve Martin in a feel-good comedy that’s broader than a knock-knock joke but still works due to the heart and soul Latifah puts into it.
In the PG-13 picture, Martin plays an uptight divorced lawyer who inadvertently meets an escapee (Latifah) from a woman’s prison on the Internet and then must shuffle his drab life when she shows up on his doorstep. The woman, who was convicted of armed robbery and claims to have been framed, won’t leave until the lawyer reopens her case and proves her innocence.
“Bringing Down the House” boasts some cliches and lacks comedic surprises, but in the end, that really doesn’t matter.
Throughout the film, director Adam Shankman (“The Wedding Planner”) continually contrasts the approaches to life by Martin’s stressed-out attorney and Latifah’s on-the-run convict. He’s blander than a slice of white bread, while she’s sassy, sexy and quietly lonely and puts some pizzazz into his dreary existence.
Shankman plays on the street-smart approach of Latifah’s character and the business savvy of Martin’s tax attorney, but instead of contrasting them in a negative fashion, the film draws parallels between their two lives. Though in very different places financially, both are looking for love and searching for happiness.
The comedy certainly uses exaggerated differences between the way people of different races approach life to wring laughs out of the material, but in the end, “Bringing Down the House” is about the things in life that bind us, not those that separate us.
That color-blind message is wrapped in some very funny moments and helped by a strong supporting cast, including Canadian comic-actor Eugene Levy (“American Pie”) as a lawyer romantically obsessed by Latifah’s lively character and famed British actress Joan Plowright (“Widow’s Peak”) as a wealthy woman with wrongheaded attitudes about race.
The always-dependable Martin provides some humorous moments as a lonely guy who finally grows as a human being once he learns to get down and enjoy life. Latifah, however, is responsible for giving this “House” a strong foundation.
FILM REVIEW
“Bringing Down the House”
Grade: B
Starring: Steve Martin, Queen Latifah, Eugene Levy and Joan Plowright; written by Jason Filardi; produced by David Hoberman and Ashok Amritraj; directed by Adam Shankman.
Running Time: 105 minutes.
Parental Guide: PG-13 (language, strong sexual innuendo, drug content).