Like a terrible version of "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner" blended with "The In-Laws," "Father of the Bride," "Grand Canyon" and "My Big, Fat Greek Wedding," this newest effort by director Rick Famuyiwa (who has helmed such masterpieces as "Brown Sugar," "The Wood" and "Blacktop Lingo," among others), is one of the worst films of the year - so far.
It also does for goats what "The Love Guru" did for elephants - burns a vision of those beasts in one's retinas that can never, ever be erased.
Instead of blacks and whites coming together after fighting each other throughout the movie (and then reconciling in the end), we get blacks and Hispanics going at each others throats for almost 100 minutes with no relief or comedic situations to speak of, and certainly no satisfying resolution, one way or another.
Plot has ultra-wealthy Marcus (Lance Gross, part of the Tyler Perry's "House of Payne" clan), son of Brad Boyd (Forrest Whittaker, Oscar-winner for "Last King Of Scotland"), who falls in love with Lucia Ramirez (America Ferrera, "Ugly Betty"), the salt-of-the-earth daughter of a tow-truck driver, Miguel (stand-up comedian Carlos Mencia, of Comedy Central fame).
One day, Miguel has to haul away Boyd's Rolls-Royce which is parked illegally or something like that. Of course, the two begin to argue and also to throw around the first in a series of stereotypical black and Hispanic insults. Get used to this, folks.
Like every other film (and television sit-com) of this ilk, the befuddled young couple is excited to spring the big news, but something always spoils it. Here, the setting is a fancy restaurant where Boyd and Ramirez fire more racial insults at one another and forbid the marriage.
Rest of film consists of young couple trying to mend fences while various oft-used situations take place (elderly Latina grandmother falls over when she sees Marcus is black, sensible mothers try to reign in husbands' bigotry and stupidity, extended families meet to discuss wildly divergent wedding preparations, sappy talk between father and daughter, a wedding cake fight and some kind of sports or civic event - here it's an amazingly unfunny softball contest in which the two dads, of course, face off against one another).
Do the nuptials take place? Do the fathers-in-law come to some kind of agreement? Will Marcus and Lucia stay together forever? Will there be a whole slew of black-Hispanic "comedies" made after this? Was I a complete moron for watching this drivel? Well, I can answer "yes" to the last two questions, at least.
Mencias should go back to his stand-up routine while Whittaker needs to give his Oscar to the man who SHOULD have won it - Peter O'Toole (for "Venus"). After "Vantage Point," "Street Kings" and now this turkey, the Academy Award gods have had enough. Ask Cuba Gooding, Jr. Gross and Ferrera are typical young leads, boring and insignificant, while only Marcus' mom, Regina King ("Ray") comes anywhere near a halfway decent effort.
So, if one likes watching people of different races and ethnicities screaming at one another, another movie in which men are made out to be total idiots, bigoted and racist material being bandied about (imagine if one of the leads was a WHITE person) and a goat with an erection (don't ask), then by all means, shell out 10 bucks to see this movie, you won't be sorry at all.
It also does for goats what "The Love Guru" did for elephants - burns a vision of those beasts in one's retinas that can never, ever be erased.
Instead of blacks and whites coming together after fighting each other throughout the movie (and then reconciling in the end), we get blacks and Hispanics going at each others throats for almost 100 minutes with no relief or comedic situations to speak of, and certainly no satisfying resolution, one way or another.
Plot has ultra-wealthy Marcus (Lance Gross, part of the Tyler Perry's "House of Payne" clan), son of Brad Boyd (Forrest Whittaker, Oscar-winner for "Last King Of Scotland"), who falls in love with Lucia Ramirez (America Ferrera, "Ugly Betty"), the salt-of-the-earth daughter of a tow-truck driver, Miguel (stand-up comedian Carlos Mencia, of Comedy Central fame).
One day, Miguel has to haul away Boyd's Rolls-Royce which is parked illegally or something like that. Of course, the two begin to argue and also to throw around the first in a series of stereotypical black and Hispanic insults. Get used to this, folks.
Like every other film (and television sit-com) of this ilk, the befuddled young couple is excited to spring the big news, but something always spoils it. Here, the setting is a fancy restaurant where Boyd and Ramirez fire more racial insults at one another and forbid the marriage.
Rest of film consists of young couple trying to mend fences while various oft-used situations take place (elderly Latina grandmother falls over when she sees Marcus is black, sensible mothers try to reign in husbands' bigotry and stupidity, extended families meet to discuss wildly divergent wedding preparations, sappy talk between father and daughter, a wedding cake fight and some kind of sports or civic event - here it's an amazingly unfunny softball contest in which the two dads, of course, face off against one another).
Do the nuptials take place? Do the fathers-in-law come to some kind of agreement? Will Marcus and Lucia stay together forever? Will there be a whole slew of black-Hispanic "comedies" made after this? Was I a complete moron for watching this drivel? Well, I can answer "yes" to the last two questions, at least.
Mencias should go back to his stand-up routine while Whittaker needs to give his Oscar to the man who SHOULD have won it - Peter O'Toole (for "Venus"). After "Vantage Point," "Street Kings" and now this turkey, the Academy Award gods have had enough. Ask Cuba Gooding, Jr. Gross and Ferrera are typical young leads, boring and insignificant, while only Marcus' mom, Regina King ("Ray") comes anywhere near a halfway decent effort.
So, if one likes watching people of different races and ethnicities screaming at one another, another movie in which men are made out to be total idiots, bigoted and racist material being bandied about (imagine if one of the leads was a WHITE person) and a goat with an erection (don't ask), then by all means, shell out 10 bucks to see this movie, you won't be sorry at all.