Been awhile since Big Momma was in the house and well she is back and she is big and this time she is dragging along her niece. Malcolm who is trying to crack open a case ends up getting his only witness and snitch killed. Trent who just happened to be at the wrong place at a wrong time witness the murder and now becomes the hunted! In an effort to retrieve some valued evidence and also to protect his son’s life, Malcolm aka Big Momma enters an all-girl school dragging along his son Trent aka Charmaine with him. It gets into all kind of crazy when that young boy ends up in an all-girls dorm. Boys will be boys.
John Whitesell should have left the franchise be. He just revived it and it fell harder than it did during the 2nd movie back in 2006. Everything was not right in the movie. I will shine some light on a few.
The Cast.
You can’t bring in amateurs alongside a star comedian. Martin Lawrence aced his way through the movie. He was brilliant as Malcolm and he was even better as Big Momma. I wish I could have said better about Brandon T Jackson. He was good, but Lawrence was just too good for him. It was not Just Jackson the entire cast I felt was too weak to be up beside a great like Lawrence. Imagine watching “Wild Hogs” with Martin Lawrence and this same cast. Wild Hogs was a hit, but if the cast was not right, it just won’t fly well. Jessica Lucas was gorgeous but her performance was not very convincing either. It was a good strategy to cast in Lawrence to boost the ticket sales, but it just won’t fly without support.
The Script
This was the only good thing out of the bad. The script was written with a lot of fast moving and slapstick comedy. This is a good sign. When a script is average this means with the right talent behind the camera and the right talent in front of the camera, the production will scrape to come above average. A good effort by the writers. Sadly yet again, it will not fly without the support.
Direction
John Whitesell is no newbie. He has been around for some time. Although he is not household as many of the big fish in the industry, he did give us “Malibu’s Most Wanted”. Although not a soaring success story on its own, it was watchable and it was funny. It’s sometimes felt as if this was done on a very low budget. A very low one indeed.
I am so glad I didn’t waste any money buying tickets to go watch this, but I indeed regret the time I lost.
Title: Big Mommas: Like Father Like Son
Directed by: John Whitesell
Starring: Martin Lawrence & Brandon T Jackson
Rated: PG 13 for sexual humor and brief violence
Rating: 01/10
107 Minutes