Big Momma's House
USA/Germany 2000
Reviewed by Ken Hollings
Synopsis
Our synopses give away the plot in full, including surprise twists.
USA, the present. Violent bank robber Lester breaks out of jail to look for his former girlfriend Sherry, who is suspected of being his accomplice in a $2 million bank robbery. FBI agent Malcolm Turner and his partner keep Sherry's grandmother's house in a small southern town under surveillance, suspecting she might flee there and lead them to the missing money.
When the grandmother, known as Big Momma, is unexpectedly called away, Turner decides to use his talent for disguise to impersonate the old woman. Sherry turns up with her young son; having been out of touch with Momma for some years, she is taken in by Turner's disguise. He eventually wins her confidence and finds out that she was not involved in the theft and wants nothing more to do with Lester. Lester shows up at a surprise party thrown in Momma's honour. The real Momma appears too. Exposed as an FBI agent, Turner arrests Lester. Having fallen in love with Sherry, Turner wins her forgiveness for his deception.
Review
Considering past revelations of one-time FBI director J. Edgar Hoover's secret passion for cross-dressing and his hounding of civil-rights campaigner Martin Luther King, the prospect of a black male FBI agent, played by Martin Lawrence, dragging himself up as a southern momma has distinct comic, if not satiric potential. Clogged up by tired routines and befuddled scripting, Big Momma's House comes across instead as an updated version of the 1890s cross-dressing farce Charley's Aunt rewritten by comedian and blaxploitation star Rudy Ray Moore, but lacking the subtle sophistication of either. There is little in Martin Lawrence's simpering parody of Momma's behaviour to suggest that he, or the character he's playing, has given any thought to his new identity. Other character details are similarly sketchy: miss a fleeting reference to Armani and you might never know that FBI agent Turner is supposed to be a hip urbanite unused to living in the Deep South. The evocation of southern culture is just as flat: a gospel choir in the local church, for instance, signal their fervour by singing 'Oh Happy Day' not just once but twice.
A comedy that revolves around deception must concern itself with the characters involved, their respective blind spots and prejudices if it is to be plausibly entertaining. But here we learn next to nothing about them and so care even less. The female roles are particularly undeveloped: Sherry, Momma's granddaughter, is never allowed to be more than a bundle of curves for Turner to roll his eyes at; a scene that features a woman's pain during labour, meanwhile, is played for the broadest of laughs. The attentions of the randy old stud pursuing Turner in the mistaken belief that he's a woman are quickly forgotten about once the FBI agent reveals his true identity. In a blithe endorsement of Joe E. Brown's observation in Some Like It Hot (1959) that "nobody's perfect", Big Momma's House doesn't trouble itself with Turner's erstwhile admirer's response to the discovery that he's allowed himself to become aroused by a man in drag.
Ella Mitchell, however, brings a wild, dirty energy to her portrayal of the 'real' Big Momma. Bad-tempered, with a bludgeoning tongue and a sulphurous bowel disorder, she dominates the small community of old ladies grouped around her. It's hard to figure out why the film isn't centred on Momma and her friends rather than Lawrence's tiresome mugging. But the pets, peeves and gossiping of these women are unfortunately never allowed to intrude on Lawrence's one-joke performance; you're left wondering what a director like John Waters, who exploited the titanic comic talents of Jean Hill in Desperate Living and Polyester with real verve, would have made of such material.
Credits
- Director
- Raja Gosnell
- Producers
- David T. Friendly
- Michael Green
- Screenplay
- Darryl Quarles
- Don Rhymer
- Story
- Darryl Quarles
- Director of Photography
- Michael D. O'Shea
- Editors
- Bruce Green
- Kent Beyda
- Production Designer
- Craig Stearns
- Music
- Richard Gibbs
- © Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Monarchy Enterprises B.V. and Regency Entertainment (USA), Inc.
- Production Companies
- Twentieth Century Fox and Regency Enterprises present a David T. Friendly/Runteldat Entertainment production
- In association with Taurus Film
- Executive Producers
- Martin Lawrence
- Jeffrey Kwatinetz
- Rodney Liber
- Arnon Milchan
- Co-producers
- Peaches Davis
- David W. Higgins
- Aaron Ray
- Production Co-ordinators
- Jacqueline Popelka
- Taylor Favale
- Co-ordinator
- Larry Fioritto
- Unit Production Manager
- Steven Brown
- Location Manager
- Richard Davis Jr
- 2nd Unit Director
- Rodney Liber
- Assistant Directors
- Richard Graves
- Susan Hellmann
- Heidi G. McGowan
- 2nd Unit:
- Albert Cho
- Hans Berggren
- Foongy Lee
- Script Supervisors
- Benita Brazier
- 2nd Unit:
- Haley McLane
- Casting
- Nancy Klopper
- Associate:
- Rita Vanderwaal
- 2nd Unit Director of Photography
- Donald M. McCuaig
- Underwater Camera
- Mike Thomas
- Mike Ferris
- Camera Operators
- Steven H. Smith
- Bob Gorelick
- 2nd Unit:
- Pat McGinnis
- Visual Effects
- Supervisor:
- Rich Thorne
- Producer:
- Sharon Holly
- Visual Effects
- CIS Hollywood
- Digiscope
- Digital FilmWorks Inc
- Pacific Title Digital
- Pixel Magic
- Special Effects Foremen
- Virgil Sanchez
- Doyle Smiley
- Wes Mattox
- Art Director
- Randy Moore
- Set Designers
- Mariko Braswell
- Charisse Cardenas
- Set Decorator
- Ellen Totleben
- Storyboard Artist
- Darryl Henley
- Costume Designer
- Francine Jamison-Tanchuck
- Costume Supervisor
- Frank Perry Rose
- Make-up
- Lead Artist:
- Beverly Jo Pryor
- Key:
- Joseph Michael Regina
- Special Make-up Effects
- Greg Cannom
- Big Momma's Make-up
- Captive Audience
- Prosthetic Make-up Artists:
- Wesley Wofford
- Brian Sipe
- Margaret Prentice
- Make-up Producer:
- Keith Vanderlaan
- Production Supervisor:
- Jennifer Teves
- Specialty Costume Supervisor:
- Linda Benavente-Notaro
- Sculptors:
- Miles Teves
- Glen Hanz
- Model Shop Supervisor:
- Arthur Pimental
- Production Co-ordinator:
- Jill Fischer
- Effects Technicians:
- Sam Sainz
- Todd Tucker
- Christopher Gallagher
- Connie Angland
- John Kim
- Operations Manager:
- Harvey K. Lowry
- Silicone Technicians:
- Mark Nieman
- Richard Starke
- Michael Peterson
- Hair Technician:
- Mark Boley
- Hair
- Lead Stylist:
- Erma Kent
- Key Stylist:
- Kimberly Kimble
- Music Supervisor
- Spring Aspers
- Soundtrack
- "Big Momma's Theme" - Da Brat & Vita featuring Destiny's Child; "I've Got to Have It" - JD & Nas featuring Monica; "You Can Always Go" - Jagged Edge and Blaque; "That's What I'm Looking For (Mr. Dupri remix)" - Da Brat and Jermaine Dupri featuring Missy Elliott; "Bounce with Me" - Lil Bow Wow & XSCAPE; "I Want to Kiss You" - Dirty, contains a portion of "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" - Cindy Lauper; "I Like Dem" - Lil Jon & The Eastside Boys; "What I'm Gonna Do to You" - Kandi; "Love's Not Love" - Marc Nelson; "Ooh Big Momma" - Lil Jon and The EastSide Boyz; "Get Up" - Jessica; "Security" - Otis Redding; "Oh Happy Day", "Everytime I Feel the Spirit" - The Black Ally Choir; "Big Mama (Go Big Girl)" - Black Dave; "Cake Walk into Town" - Taj Mahal; "Woo Hoo" - Rock-A-Teens; "Yes We Can" - The Pointer Sisters; "Nut Rocker" - B Bumble & The Stingers; "Can't Get Enough of Your Love Babe" by Barry White; "Wang Dang Doodle" - KoKo Taylor
- Sound Mixer
- Thomas Causey
- Supervising Sound Editors
- Bob Grieve
- Yann Delpuech
- Basketball Consultant
- Dick Baker
- FBI Consultant
- Jeffrey Beatty
- Stunt Co-ordinator
- Ernie Orsatti
- Marine Co-ordinator
- C. Ransom Walrod
- Animals
- Birds and Animals Unlimited
- Cast
- Martin Lawrence
- Malcolm Turner
- Nia Long
- Sherry
- Paul Giamatti
- John
- Jascha Washington
- Trent
- Terrence Howard
- Lester
- Anthony Anderson
- Nolan
- Ella Mitchell
- Big Momma Pierce
- Carl Wright
- Ben
- Phyllis Applegate
- Sadie
- Starletta Dupois
- Miss Patterson
- Jessie Mae Holmes
- Miss Other Patterson
- Nicole Prescott
- Lena
- Octavia L. Spencer
- Twila
- Tichina Arnold
- Ritha
- Cedric "The Entertainer"
- reverend
- Philip Tan
- Kang
- Edwin Hodge
- Aldis Hodge
- basketball teens
- Brian Palermo
- Cazwell
- Brian Paul Stuart
- prison doctor
- Sarah Zinsser
- receptionist
- Sean Lampkin
- cab driver
- Tony McEwing
- anchorperson
- Sean Thibodeau
- Jud
- Ramsey Luke
- FBI agent
- Rosi Rosi
- Minnie O. Burton
- Rita (Peggy) Fagan-Lewis
- Nolan's volunteers
- John Eddins
- police officer
- Louis Archie Shackles
- choir 1
- Tameka Holmes
- choir 2
- Ellis Hall
- organist
- Certificate
- 12
- Distributor
- 20th Century Fox (UK)
- 8,855 feet
- 98 minutes 23 seconds
- Dolby Digital
- Colour by
- DeLuxe