Welcome Home, Roscoe Jenkins: Martin Lawrence Dials It Down, Barely

David Lee © Universal

Bryant deserves better than Lawrence.

Details

Opens at area theaters, Fri., Feb. 8. Rated PG-13. 114 minutes.

Related Content

• Watch Basketball the UCLA Way: Play This Drinking Game While The Huskies Take On The Bruins Saturday
  March 2, 2012
• Today Reverb Recommends Quoting House Party Along with Mash Hall at Central Cinema
  January 20, 2011
• Higher Ground: Vera Farmiga's Consideration of Wavering Faith
  September 7, 2011
• SIFF Week 1: Picks & Pans
  May 18, 2011
• The Slammin’ Salmon: The Broken Lizard Dudes Make a Mockery of Fine Dining
  December 9, 2009

More About

• Malcolm Lee
• Martin Lawrence
• RJ Stevens
• Joy Bryant
• Nicole Ari Parker

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Events Newsletter: What's happening in town? From underground club nights to the biggest outdoor festivals, our top picks for the week's best events will always keep you in on the action.

Privacy Policy Cancel Continue

In this overlong but exuberantly performed comedy from writer-director Malcolm D. Lee (Undercover Brother), Martin Lawrence is RJ Stevens, a tabloid TV talk-show host who takes his Survivor-winning fiancée (Joy Bryant, terrific) home to Georgia to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his parents (James Earl Jones and Margaret Avery). In Hollywood, RJ's a king, but down home, he's still seen as the hapless kid who lost every childhood game to his cousin Clyde (Cedric the Entertainer), who arrives at the reunion on the arm of RJ's unrequited love (Nicole Ari Parker). Although the big comic setups in Lee's script feel a bit forced—RJ's encounter with a skunk, his climactic obstacle-course showdown with Clyde—the director continually sets up moments of rapid-fire, barb-filled interplay among his accomplished cast, which also includes The Green Mile's Michael Clarke Duncan. As RJ's crazy cousins (lots of cousins in this house), Mike Epps and the stand-up comic Mo'Nique counterbalance each other nicely—he with sly, street-hustler charm and she with raise-the-rooftops boisterousness. It's impressive, actually, that Lawrence lets this film's supporting players steal so much of his show—as movie stars go, he must be a pretty secure guy.