Holly
02-16-2006, 11:42 AM
Since he had one of his biggest box-office successes by putting on a fat suit and imitating the opposite gender, you knew it was only a matter of time until Martin Lawrence did it again.
And so he does in “Big Momma's House 2,” the new comedy sequel that has to stretch a bit to get Lawrence back into the disguise. It was a sensible part of the stakeout in which his FBI character was involved in the original movie, but this time, it serves as a device to put him close to the man of the house (Mark Moses) ... who may be handing over secret government information to enemies of America.
That is somewhat heady stuff for a picture that aims for very basic laughs, but it does turn Lawrence -- in the guise of hefty, boisterous Big Momma again -- into the new nanny to the alleged spy's children. In that sense, “Big Momma's House 2” tries to be family-friendly like Lawrence's previous movie, last summer's “Rebound”; it works a bit better in this case, since the edginess of much of the humor is perfectly in keeping with the approach that the original “Big Momma's House” established.
That said, there's only so much Lawrence can do with the part the second time around, leaving the feeling that we've pretty much seen all there is to see. And that's only about a half-hour into the movie, with more than another hour yet to go. The actor certainly works hard (he pretty much had no choice, given the extra dimension and weight of the costume he must wear for much of the film), and some of the sight gags get laughs, but those are only temporary.
To be sure, you could do worse sequel-wise than “Big Momma's House 2,” but there's barely a thing in it that you won't expect even before the projector starts running it. The movie plays it very safe, something of a letdown in a showcase for a performer whose strength really lies in his unpredictability.
(Rated PG-13)
And so he does in “Big Momma's House 2,” the new comedy sequel that has to stretch a bit to get Lawrence back into the disguise. It was a sensible part of the stakeout in which his FBI character was involved in the original movie, but this time, it serves as a device to put him close to the man of the house (Mark Moses) ... who may be handing over secret government information to enemies of America.
That is somewhat heady stuff for a picture that aims for very basic laughs, but it does turn Lawrence -- in the guise of hefty, boisterous Big Momma again -- into the new nanny to the alleged spy's children. In that sense, “Big Momma's House 2” tries to be family-friendly like Lawrence's previous movie, last summer's “Rebound”; it works a bit better in this case, since the edginess of much of the humor is perfectly in keeping with the approach that the original “Big Momma's House” established.
That said, there's only so much Lawrence can do with the part the second time around, leaving the feeling that we've pretty much seen all there is to see. And that's only about a half-hour into the movie, with more than another hour yet to go. The actor certainly works hard (he pretty much had no choice, given the extra dimension and weight of the costume he must wear for much of the film), and some of the sight gags get laughs, but those are only temporary.
To be sure, you could do worse sequel-wise than “Big Momma's House 2,” but there's barely a thing in it that you won't expect even before the projector starts running it. The movie plays it very safe, something of a letdown in a showcase for a performer whose strength really lies in his unpredictability.
(Rated PG-13)