Steve Martin must be a director’s delight – he can turn any script into a rip-roaring performance. After watching his performances in Roxanne, Father of the Bride, Bowfinger – my unanimous verdict - he is funny. And fresh from seeing Chicago – I developed a liking to the well endowed Queen Latifah – for her acting prowess, trust me.
I wanted to see Bringing Down the House, just for the fun of watching these two perform and I was not disappointed. BDTH was a riot with comical situations, well timed dialogue delivery and good acting – this movie is just what the doctor recommended to get rid of those frowns.
This movie was released in March’2003 and runs for about 1 hr 45 minutes. Adam Shankman is the director and co-produced by Anand Amrithraj – the older brother of the 70’s Indian tennis sensation – Vijay Amrithraj. Permission to digress a wee bit – during the 70’s the ABC of tennis was synonymous to Amrithraj (Vijay), Borg (Bjorn) and Connors (Jimmy).
The Story:
Steve Martin as Peter Sanderson is a tax lawyer and recently divorced from Jean Smart as Kate. He develops friendship with an entity called “LegalGirl” in an internet chat room and is impressed with her photograph which shows a typical blonde lawyer.
He is finally going to meet his net pal and he prepares an elaborate candle light dinner, changes dresses six times, tightens his belt to reduce his bulging paunch, brushes and rebrushes his scantily graying hair and is all set to welcome his date with two glasses of champagne. He is horrified to see a well-built african-american who calls herself as Charlene played by Queen Latifah and shoo shoos her. Charlene insists that she is the net pal and wants Peter to help her to reopen her case and clean up her records as she was falsely implicated in an armed robbery case and was spending time in jail before she decided to escape.
Peter works for a reputed tax firm which is desperately trying to get the account of a rich widow – Mrs.Arness played by Joan Plowright. Mrs.Arness is typically British and wants all her financial dealings to be in “propah” hands. Steve is bullied into agreeing to defend Charlene, if she stays out of his life and does not come in the way while he is wooing for Mrs.Arness’s account.
The rest of the story deals with how Charlene gets close to Peters’ children – Sarah and Georgey and also helps Peter get back with his estranged wife Kate. In the process, Peter’s best friend Howie played by Eugene Levy falls head over heels in love with Charlene.
Betty White of the Golden Girls fame, plays the snoopy neighbor and her being the sister of Peters’ tax firm partner, adds to the confusion.
Ashley played by Missi Pyle as the sister of Kate plays a neat cameo role of a woman with loose morals, who dates older men for their money.
Does Steve succeed in clearing the name of Latifah? Watch the movie to find out.
The Performances:
Steve and Latifah have a natural chemistry between them. Even though there were several references to race, they were politically correct and just below the level of being crude or insulting.
Steve was ably supported by Eugene.
Worth mentioning is the performance of Mrs.Arness’s dog referred to as William Shakespeare who added laughter to some of the comic situations.
Some memorable situations to watch out for:
- The first time Steve invites Latifah for a date, they go to a restaurant and start dancing – he starts off with some epileptic movements and slowly transforms into a smooth dancer. Kate and Ashley who happen to be in the same restaurant are amazed at his dancing skills.
2.Steve tries to blend in with the afro-american neighborhood – starts talking in the hood language and keeps on rapping.
- The cat fight between Latifah and Ashley in the powder room. Looked like some weird concoction of kick boxing, taekwondo and had a lot of intensity. Just when you thought one of them is finished, she would bounce right back.
4.Sarah – Steve’s daughter gets into trouble and Charlene rescues her and asks Steve to patiently listen to his daughter. Despite himself Steve does it remarkably well.
5.Georgey – Steve’s son is poor in reading and Charlene helps him by giving him some girlie magazines to practice his reading on and surprisingly Georgey starts to read well.
6.Charlene playing the prefect servant when Mrs.Arness is invited for dinner – reminded her of the good old days in the south – this was a dig at slavery.
The above situations are just a tip of the iceberg which I could remember at the top of my head.. The entire movie is full of such situations. I would give this a 4/5 and would highly recommend for watching it.
What are you waiting for? Bring down YOUR house and let your neighbors know about it.