Poor Tim Robbins -- who's up there in my pantheon of Hollywood along with such icons of creativity and integrity as Jodie Foster and John Sayles -- does his best to salvage a mediocre movie, but his appealing performance isn't enough. I actually didn't hate Martin Lawrence, which is about as far as I'm prepared to go, but I still would have rather seen another actor in the role: Eddie Murphy, John Leguizamo, even Giancarlo Esposito, who has a pointless supporting role.
The movie is so ham-handed with setting up plot points that I knew the ending before the action had even started. It veers uncomfortably from slapstick humor to trying to say something meaningful about race relations. There are some damn funny, laugh-out-loud moments, but not enough to compensate for long stretches of poor writing and twitching Martin Lawrence. It has potential -- you feel like a better writer or director could have really done something with it -- but it feels flat and uninspired throughout. If it weren't for Robbins, this movie would be another one of a dozen throwaway comedies churned out every year. He takes it to a slightly higher level, but I'd still recommend this for a slow night at the video store.
I just hope
Robbins is using the money he got from this film for another
one of his stellar personal projects, à la Bob Roberts or
Dead Man Walking.
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