Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins (review)
I should have walked out at the “comical” dog-sex scene. Instead I endured until Martin Lawrence got skunked in the face -- that should have made me happy, and yet I felt dirty all over, and had to escape. Still, I feel confident in saying, though I saw only two-thirds of the film, that this is one of the absolute worst movies ever produced by the hands of humans. Oh, sure, who wouldn’t be charmed by the “sentimental” spectacle of Lawrence’s hotshot L.A. talk-show host heading home to Bumfuck, The South, for his parents’ 50th wedding anniversary celebration, with his gorgon of a girlfriend -- she won Survivor; that’s the kind of aggressive bitch she is -- in tow, so that all and sundry of his redneck, blackface family can taunt him about how “white” he’s become? Theaters will have to take out special insurance for all the audience member suffering whiplash from trying to keep up with the changes in tone of this monstrosity, which veers from “sappy claptrap” to “minstrel show” with nary a warning: the only consistency to the film comes via the fact that just about every single character here is uniformly and unrelenting a horrible excuse for a human being. The only cinematic salvation possible in those last few minutes that I couldn’t bear to watch would have been if poor James Earl Jones, as Lawrence’s father, were actually raptured up into heaven by Jesus Christ himself, the Almighty Himself having taken pity upon him.
viewed at a semipublic screening with an audience of critics and ordinary moviegoers
rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content, language and some drug references
official site | IMDB
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comments
posted by Danielle (Fri Feb 08 08, 9:17PM)
I'm very, very sorry you had to sit through (two-thirds) of this movie, but still, I think it's resulted in one my favorite reviews you've written, ever.
posted by Hdj (Sat Feb 09 08, 1:57PM)
This week mosta felt like you were sitting in the 3rd layer of hell. First you had to sit through "over her dead body", then "Fools gold" and now this. Its no wonder you left.
posted by MaryAnn (Sat Feb 09 08, 3:00PM)
That's what January and February usually are: cinematic hell.
posted by marc adams (Sun Feb 10 08, 4:03AM)
just read this review after seeing this film...this chick reviewer is a bad time.
you obviously take yourself waaay too seriously darlin'! were you expecting casablanca? you sound angry.
maybe b/c you're a 2?
martin took a backseat for the first time, and it served him well.
Mon-IQue killed it!
Flippin Darth Vader was in the cast......Advise: Hide a stiff drinkin your GF's purse and allow yourself a few silly laughs people.
Smarten-Up Goof,
marc
posted by SC (Sun Feb 10 08, 8:32PM)
Marc Adams, next time you feel it necessary to insult MaryAnn for a coherent, well-thought out film review, please do so in English. You pretty much only made yourself sound like an uneducated, sexist asshole and, therefore, we don't care what you think.
MaryAnn, I give you credit for sticking around for even 2/3 of this. Just the previews make me cringe.
posted by MBI (Tue Feb 12 08, 10:34PM)
I don't know if I have higher tolerance or what, but I didn't think it was the WORST movie I'll see this year, not when I've already seen Fool's Gold. I think it's because I have a soft spot for Whitney Houston's "Saving All My Love for You." Malcolm D. Lee has a knack for finding the right music, even in a horrible movie like this.
The slapstick stuff struck me as bad but pretty typical; it's the emotional abuse that got to me. That whole family treated Martin Lawrence like shit! For serious! Why is his brother allowed to bag on him for not being with his son enough but he's not allowed to fire back about his morbidly obese niece and nephew? Why will James Earl Jones not accept his gift of a very nice TV? Not that Martin Lawrence was an angel himself. Please tell me you at least made it to the part where Lawrence dumps his fiancee by humiliating her and telling her "Bounce, bitch" RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIS KID, and his kid CHEERS HIM ON. Isn't that adorable? I can't wait to see what this kid will be like when he starts dating.
posted by MaryAnn (Tue Feb 12 08, 10:48PM)
No, I did not make it to that point, and I'm glad I didn't.
posted by Orodemniades (Wed Feb 13 08, 12:10PM)
The fact that Martin 'really, I'm not funny' Lawrence is in this 'movie' was a good clue as to its quality.
I must agree with #1, though - possibly my favorite review ever.
posted by Evan and Kevin (Fri Jul 11 08, 4:28PM)
We sat through the entire Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins voluntarily.
Series of words that describe how we feel about the film: fuck, shit, marc adams, typical teenagers, shit, shit, dead shit, crap, poop, shit, bad movie, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand shit.
we are funnier than this comment but the film is just so bad