Fresh
A comedy that successfully plays with stereotypes, both racial and personal.
Jami Bernard, New York Daily News
Bringing Down the House
Everything he needed to know about life, she learned in prison.
2003 · 1h 45m · PG-13
Comedy, Drama
Directed by
Adam Shankman
Overview
Uptight lawyer Peter Sanderson wants to dive back into dating after his divorce and has a hard time meeting the right women. He tries online dating and lucks out when he starts chatting with a fellow lawyer. The two agree to meet in the flesh, but the woman he meets — an escaped African-American convict named Charlene — is not what he expected. Peter is freaked out, but Charlene tries to convince him to take her case and prove her innocence. Along the way, she wreaks havoc on his middle-class life as he gets a lesson in learning to lighten up.
Director and cast
- Adam Shankman Director
- Steve Martin as Peter Sanderson
- Queen Latifah as Charlene Morton
- Eugene Levy as Howie Rottman
- Joan Plowright as Virginia Arness
- Jean Smart as Kate Sanderson
- Kimberly J. Brown as Sarah Sanderson
- Missi Pyle as Ashley
- Angus T. Jones as Georgey Sanderson
- Michael Rosenbaum as Todd Gendler
- Betty White as Mrs. Kline
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
34%
Tomatometer
Rotten
You have somebody as smart as Steve Martin, and as smart and appealing as Queen Latifah in a movie like this. To have such an awful, offensive story is a real disappointment.
Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper
Rotten
A comedy constructed from tapped-out ideas.
Robert Denerstein, Denver Rocky Mountain News
Rotten
A Film in Which Steve Martin Will Appear in Full Hip-Hop Drag With Appropriate Slang for Not Less Than Six Minutes.
Jane Dark, Village Voice
Rotten
The material is thin and pandering and almost criminally negligent in bypassing opportunities for humor.
Peter Rainer, New York Magazine/Vulture
More films
Stomp the Yard (2007)
Drama · Music · PG-13
After the death of his younger brother, a troubled 19-year-old street dancer from Los Angeles is able to bypass juvenile hall by enrolling in the historically black, Truth University in Atlanta, Georgia. But his efforts to get an education and woo the girl he likes are sidelined when he is courted by the top two campus fraternities, bo...
- Runtime
- 1h 54m
- Director
- Sylvain White
- Cast
- Columbus Short, Meagan Good, Ne-Yo
IMDb
5.5
Rotten Tomatoes
25%
Metacritic
44
Big Momma's House (2000)
Comedy · Crime · PG-13
When a street-smart FBI agent is sent to Georgia to protect a beautiful single mother and her son from an escaped convict, he is forced to impersonate a crass Southern granny known as Big Momma in order to remain incognito.
- Runtime
- 1h 38m
- Director
- Raja Gosnell
- Cast
- Martin Lawrence, Nia Long, Paul Giamatti
IMDb
5.2
Rotten Tomatoes
30%
Metacritic
33
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)
Action · Crime · Drama · Thriller · PG-13
In order to avoid a jail sentence, Sean Boswell heads to Tokyo to live with his military father. In a low-rent section of the city, Shaun gets caught up in the underground world of drift racing
- Runtime
- 1h 44m
- Director
- Justin Lin
- Cast
- Lucas Black, Nathalie Kelley, Sung Kang
IMDb
6.1
Rotten Tomatoes
38%
Metacritic
45
Last Holiday (2006)
Adventure · Comedy · Drama · PG-13
The discovery that she has a terminal illness prompts introverted department store saleswoman Georgia Byrd to reflect on what she realizes has been an overly cautious life. With weeks to live, she withdraws her life savings, sells all her possessions and jets off to Europe where she lives it up at a posh hotel. Upbeat and passionate, G...
- Runtime
- 1h 52m
- Director
- Wayne Wang
- Cast
- Queen Latifah, LL Cool J, Timothy Hutton
IMDb
6.6
Rotten Tomatoes
56%
Metacritic
52
The Big Year (2011)
Comedy · PG
Three fanatical bird-watchers spend an entire year competing to spot the highest number of species as El Nino sends an extraordinary variety of rare breeds flying up into the U.S., but they quickly discover that there are more important things than coming out on top of the competition.
- Runtime
- 1h 42m
IMDb
6.2
Rotten Tomatoes
40%
Metacritic
53
Comments
Talk about the film with other members