Bringing Down the House

Bringing Down the House is a very funny movie and your bound to have a good time. Peter Sanderson (Steve Martin) is a lawyer who is having trouble getting his life back on track after his wife, Kate ( Jean Smart), divorces him; he's also adjusting to his new status as a single father. Peter tries an internet dating site and virtually meets "lawyer-girl," an attractive and single fellow attorney. Peter makes a date with her, but the woman who arrives at his door turns out to be Charlene Morton (Queen Latifah), who not only isn't a lawyer, she turns out to be an escaped convict. Charlene explains to Peter that she's strung him along because she's innocent of the crime for which she was convicted, and she needs a top-notch attorney to help prove her case. After some persuasion, Peter agrees to help Charlene out. Though the plot sounds stupid, the execution turned out to be really funny. The story is a little weak though and they could have worked a little more on that. The movie isn't very realistic so you shouldn't go in expecting one. The cast is great and they make this somewhat old material funny. The funniest person is Eugene Levy and he is finally getting the recognition he deserves. Steve Martin returns for his first wide release film in four years. He doesn't disappoint and gives a very funny performance. Queen Latifah is also funny, but she also starts getting annoying by the end of the movie. Jean Smart plays the ex wife of Peter and she's pretty good. The rest of the supporting cast includes Kimberly J. Brown, Joan Plowright, Betty White and Missi Pyle. Adam Shankman directs and this is a large improvement over A Walk to Remember. The racist jokes in the film are a little outdated and sometimes this film does go over the top. I still laughed though as some of the dialog in this film is very funny. While this isn't he funniest film of 2003, its still worth watching. Its 105 minutes long and it starts getting a little boring since they add some unnecessary things. Another good thing about this film is that they didn't use all the jokes in the preview. In the end, this film is worth watching even if its not very memorable. Rating 7.4/10, a funny comedy that's worth checking out.

I loved this movie!It was so funny I broke out in laughter six or seven times through the movie.Steve Martin's wise cracks keep the movie entertaining,and the acting and plot are great.I enjoyed this movie alot.Queen Latifah is great with her tough biker chick role,beating up women AND men that give her a hard time.I hope black people did'nt take offense to this movie,because in a way it mocked black people.It's just a very funny enjoyable movie,not to be taken seriously or offensive.I loved every minute of it!

If the idea of one of the "whitest" comedians in Hollywood (Martin) teaming up with one of the "blackest" divas (Latifah) appeals to you, then you might enjoy "Bringing Down the House". The film has Martin as a divorced tax attorney while Latifah plays a jailbird on the run who needs an attorney to prove her innocence and gives Martin plenty of "tude" along with some lessons in getting real as they raucously wend their way through countless comedic contrivances. Personally I enjoyed this busy top-of-the-marquee comedy romp a lot. However, it requires being able to find humor in the juxtaposition of Martin and Latifah which, judging from comments elsewhere on this website, not everyone did. (B)

This is pretty much another one of those typical culture clash comedies where a streetsmart character meets the classy rich character, there's conflict and then the conflict is resolved and friendship blossoms, then there's another conflict but that too is resolved by the end. The story has been told x number of times. But what makes 'Bringing Down The House' likable is Queen Latifah, Steve Martin and Joan Plowright. These three provide some laugh-out-loud moments some including Martin and Latifah's dance number, Martin dressing and talking 'black', Queen Latifah and Missy Pyle's catfight and doing a break-dance, Plowright's pompous and stuck up character getting stoned, Peter's neighbour catching him and Charlene in a compromising position. The chemistry between Latifah and Martin is convincing and both have a good comic timing. Thus, even though the story has nothing new to offer, the funny moments make 'Bringing Down The House' fun to watch.

OK, so the white-yuppie-and-black-ghetto-person-joining-up idea has been used a number of times in movies, but the dialog between Steve Martin and Queen Latifah makes this one worthwhile. Probably the best scenes are Betty White's nasty comments, Queen Latifah teaching Missi Pyle a lesson, Steve Martin dressed - and attempting to talk - like a rapper (especially because of what Joan Plowright ends up doing in that scene), and of course, Eugene Levy's statements ending with "Boo". "Bringing Down the House" really does bring down the house. Completely silly, but fun nevertheless.

Who ever would have imagined Joan Plowright (aka Laurence Olivier's widow) doing what she did and saying what she said in the rapper scene?