Cheap Bringing Down The House (Widescreen Edition) (DVD) (Steve Martin, Queen Latifah, Eugene Levy) (Adam Shankman) Price

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Customer Reviews of Bringing Down The House (Widescreen Edition)

Peter Sanderson (Martin) is a straitlaced tax attorney and divorced father of two. In search of romance, he arranges a rendezvous with an alleged Ivy League female attorney he met in a legal chat room online. His dream-date turns out to be none other than Charlene Morton played by Queen Latifah (who also shined in Chicago). Charlene has a criminal record and claims she's being framed for armed robbery. She disrupts Peter's life until he agrees to help her clear her name. While he helps Charlene, she ends up helping Peter get to know his children better and just loosen up already!

The always hysterical Eugene Levy plays Peter's friend/colleague Howie Rosenthal. Jean Smart, who I always like, plays Peter's ex-wife Kate. But the two unexpected scene-stealers were veteran actresses Joan Plowright and Betty White. Plowright plays Mrs. Arnes, a stuffy heiress that Peter is trying to land as a client. The always-proper lady loosens up herself at the end. Betty White plays Peter's nosey neighbor who's also the sister of one of his colleagues at the firm. Naturally, he wants to keep his nose clean around her. White throws out a few shockingly funny lines that sends the entire audience into hysterics.

Overall, this is just a fun film. The chemistry between the new team of Martin and Latifah was great. You WILL laugh out loud, trust me.

Pretty Cliche
Queen Latifah is certainly making her way up as an actress these days. Her portrayal as "Matron Mamma Morton" in Chicago earned her an Oscar nomination, and her role as Charlene in "Bringing Down The House" was loved by critics and audiences alike.
Sadly, the rest of the cast fails to match her natural gifts, even the usually spectacular Steve Martin, who comes up somewhat flat in his role. But its not necessarily all his fault.
The script, at times is witty but is pretty boring and predictable, using the same tired cliches about black and white, and drawing up the very same stereotypes both races have come to hate: all black people are loud and proud, with their own "lingo," grew up in the hood with a hard life and hate to show off any amount of education they may possess. And all white people are up tight, snotty, can't dance, and are secretly trying to be black - or at least, the black that society tries to say African Americans are. This is entirely annoying, especially in a world that has role models like brilliant Halle Berry and teen pop idols like Justin Timberlake [you have to admit, he can move like no other] to prove them wrong.
So as another reviewer said, unless you're a Martin or Queen Latifah fan, pass.

I couldn't last half a freakin hour into this dung!
Steve Martin is an excellent comedian and Queen Latifah was absolutley fabulous in the musical "Chicago" and the movie's plot idea was very interesting, the idea of a wealthy businessman having his world intermingle with that of a poor (lacking a lot of money) woman who is in trouble with the law.

Sadly however, this movie squanders everything that could've made this movie great. The acting is absolutely atrocious and the script is horrible and without any strengths. Steve Martin really drops the ball with awful acting and embarrassing attempts at humor. He's better than that. Queen Latifah fares little better.

What also kills this movie for me is how offensive and excessively stereotypical it is. The dumbest part for me was when the character played by Martin dresses up as some hip-hop raver just made me laugh in derision at the scene. Not that it's obscene but it's just such a massive joke for such a talented actor to really slip on a banana peel like this. What were you thinking Steve? (Shakes head) I also hated the stereotypes that this movie seems to bring up about the African-American societies in this country even though in some ways we are still quite polarized.

This movie was already doomed to begin with even when it had potential. "Bringing Down THe House" could really have been a funny, witty, and original movie but whatever on Earth happened in it's making, it really destroys this movie.

BDTH is complete rubbish and should be depolymerized immediately because it's a waste of natural resources and we cannot afford to waste them on making such God-awful movies. End of story!