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Whistle Stopper - Big Momma's House (Special Edition)
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List Price: $14.98
Our Price: $4.15
Your Save: $ 10.83 ( 72% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
Starring: Phyllis Applegate, Starletta DuPois, Paul Giamatti, Terrence Howard, Martin Lawrence
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Average Customer Rating:   
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Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: DVD
Brand: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
EAN: 0024543008194
Format: Closed-captioned
Label: 20th Century Fox
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: 20th Century Fox
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2001-03-06
Running Time: 98
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Theatrical Release Date: 2000
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Action, Romance & Funny Movie
Comment: If you like action, this movie has it; it you like romance, this movie has it; and if you like humor, this movie has it. Martin Lawrence portrays the comedy to the hilt, and, surprisingly, he also does an good job of being a suave man pursuing his woman. Nia Long is a beautiful and excellent actress in this film making the romance part so adorable. Terrence Howard's role was done well too. He really can be a scarey character when he needs to portray it. Altogether this film is excellent on so many levels and a must see for anyone who likes the combination of action, romance and humor.
Customer Rating:
Summary: GREAT VIEWING
Comment: This is just down my street hilarious and great family viewing. highly recommended. Loved every minute.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Big Momma Doubtfire!
Comment: Big Momma's House is far more entertaining than some of the reviews would indicate. Yes, the plot is almost impossible: an FBI agent who is forced to disguise himself as a very large grandmother, in order to track down an escaped killer.
But the film has so many enjoyable scenes. Who can forget lovely Sherry (Nia Long), asking if Big Momma (Martin Lawrence) has another flashlight? The makeup and body padding make Martin Lawrence an awesomely agile grandmother. His basketball back-dunk is something we would all love to see grandmothers be able to do. It's kind of like when we wish we had super powers.
I can't spoil it for you, because there are just so many memorable scenes: like detective Malcolm caught in a tree branch as he slowly sags out of his "granny suit." Or when he somersaults, breaking through the front window, shyly commenting, "I forgot my keys." Or when the reverend (Cedric the Entertainer) discourages Big Momma from talking too much about what happened in the back of an El Camino.
OK--it's kind of kitsch--but it's a whole lot of fun. It will not be considered the greatest movie of the twentyfirst century, but it is an escapist romantic comedy and lots of fun. If you liked films like Mrs. Doubtfire, you'll really like this. Relax and enjoy it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Not a bad diversion. . . .
Comment: I'm not usually a fan of movies in this genre, but Big Momma's House is not as bad a diversion as some might have you believe. If you've ever witnessed someone doing or saying something so stupid,low and crass that you had to laugh in spite of yourself, then this movie fits the bill. One of the strongest draws of this movie is its unusually strong cast of talented actors, who make the most out of what they are given. Like most comedies in this vein, you have to suspend your disbelief much of the time: the plot of this situational comedy is highly improbable, but sometimes quite funny. Martin Lawrence won't make you forget Eddie Murphy's star turn in the First "Nutty Professor" remake, but he does have some surprisingly amusing moments impersonating "Big Momma" while in pursuit of a criminal who is on the lam. Nia Long, his love interest, is as cool and ravishing as ever. Ella Mitchell gamely plays the real Big Momma and, best of all, Anthony Anderson is uproariously funny as a bumbling security guard who moonlights giving self-defense classes to elderly women in the neighborhood community center. As most reviewers here have indicated, "Big Momma's House" is definitely not worth agonizing about. It's the film equivalent of pleasantly disposable junk food. It could have been much worse.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good, but not as good as it could have been with some radical revisions
Comment: The biggest problem with Big Momma's house is that you can often see just how funny it should be, but the cast and crew are not able to sustain the occasional hilarious parts with any consistency.
It doesn't seem to help that Big Momma's House wants to be more than a comedy. Writers Darryl Quarles and Don Rhymer shoot for a combination of a crime comedy ala Beverly Hills Cop (1984) and a romantic comedy. But the core comedy is absurdist, while the mostly serious crime stuff is so underwritten that it would be better absent, and the somewhat serious rom-com stuff is so generic and predictable that it has all the surprise of attending Mass.
To me, the comedy being absurdist is a plus, but it doesn't mesh well with other modes. It's ridiculous, of course, that Malcolm Turner (Martin Lawrence) is trying to pass himself off as "Big Momma" Hattie Mae Pierce (Ella Mitchell). That's a large part of what makes it funny. However, director Raja Gosnell's decision to play the rest of the cast as mostly deadpan is a strange one. It leads the viewer to take the film in a more realist mode, but if you're doing that, you keep asking yourself why anyone else would believe that Turner is actually Big Momma. Gosnell should have gone for another approach during the Turner as Big Momma scenes. It's not that they're never funny, but too often the deadpan interaction breaks the humor.
However, the deadpan attitude works wonders when Mitchell is Big Momma. Mitchell is a fantastic here as a comic actress and especially Paul Giamatti as John is hilarious interacting with her. Once those too-brief scenes ended, I was wishing they wouldn't have, and when they reappeared again at the end, it made me more fully realize how much better they were. A whole film could have and should have been written around Mitchell as Big Momma with Giamatti and Lawrence interacting with her and beautiful co-star Nia Long via some other story.
Even with these problems, Big Momma is an enjoyable film. My wife enjoyed it even more than I did, we're looking forward to watching Big Momma's House 2, and we'll certainly watch this again in the future. But it's a case of moments of brilliance poking through so that you see just how much better it could have been.
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Editorial Reviews:
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No one tries very hard in Big Momma's House, so your enjoyment of this Martin Lawrence vehicle pretty much depends on how much amusement you're able to derive from a guy dressed up as a very ample woman. The setup is of the eye-rolling, only-in-Hollywood nature: Lawrence, as detective Malcolm Turner, is after a killer, and apparently the only way to capture him is to pose as the bad guy's ex-girlfriend's grandmother, who--the film cannot stress this point too much--is quite large. Apparently, Sherry (Nia Long), the young woman in question--she's as attractive as Big Momma is, well, you know--is none too bright, for she falls for Malcolm's ruse, which of course ostensibly amuses mainly because it's so transparent. She at least has an excuse--she hasn't seen Big Momma in two years--but Big Momma's oblivious friends must be functional morons. Screenwriters Darryl Quarles and Don Rhymer didn't tax themselves very much, as they have Malcolm-as-Big-Momma going through fairly predictable motions--botching a meal and delivering a baby unconventionally (Big Momma's a midwife), but ruling at basketball and self- defense and protecting Sherry while trying vainly not to flirt with her. Paul Giamatti is wasted as Malcolm's partner; director Raja Gosnell's clunky sense of comic rhythm is bewildering, because he used to be an editor (he brought a similar lack of magic to Home Alone 3). Lawrence won't have anyone forgetting Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in Some Like It Hot, Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie, or Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire anytime soon. Big Momma's House benefits mainly by being first to the marketplace ahead of Eddie Murphy's The Nutty Professor 2: The Klumps; Murphy's work in prosthetics is far more accomplished, versatile, and funny. --David Kronke
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