From the "I Can't Make This Shit Up Department," here's an excerpt from an e-mail I received from a studio rep yesterday:
Big Mommas are everywhere this weekend
Twentieth Century Fox will target urban audiences in a joint national initiative with the Loew’s Magic Johnson theater chain for Big Momma’s House 2HOUSTON… Families around Houston are invited to come meet two local Big Mommas and win prizes this Friday, January 14 and Monday, January 16 at the Loew’s Magic Johnson Theater at Northline Mall for a promotional event for Twentieth Century Fox’s family film BIG MOMMA’S HOUSE 2 starring Martin Lawrence.
Schedule for BIG MOMMA’S HOUSE 2 event:
Loew’s Magic Johnson Theater at Northline Mall
Saturday and Monday, January 14 and 16
4 p.m. – 7 p.m. – Big Mommas will interact with theater patrons and giveaway prize packs.
Because when I think "African-American cinema appropriate for Martin Luther King Day," I think of several Martin Lawrence-in-a-fat-suit clones. Maybe they could package Big Momma's House 2 as a triple-feature with Harvard Soul Man and Song of the South.
About BIG MOMMA’S HOUSE 2:
In 2000’s “Big Momma’s House,” Martin Lawrence had his “largest” role ever, as an FBI agent who is a master of disguise. To trap a brutal bank robber, Lawrence went deep undercover – impersonating a fun-loving granny known as Big Momma. Now, Lawrence is back as the boldest, biggest, and baddest Momma ever, in the mother of all comedies: BIG MOMMA’S HOUSE 2. This time, Lawrence transforms himself into Big Momma to avert a national security disaster. But saving the country is the least of Big Momma’s problems, as he takes on his ultimate challenge – being nanny/housekeeper to the suspect’s dysfunctional family.
So, it's like Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? meets a syringe of bleach in the eyes and a railroad spike in the gut? Excellent.
Make it a quadruple feature and throw in "Soul Man", still the only movie I've ever paid for and then walked out on.
Damn it. I meant Soul Man. What the hell is Harvard Man?
The plot outline on the IMDB states: "A basketball player strikes a deal with the mob to fix a basketball game." It starred Sarah Michelle Gellar, Adrien Grenier, Joey Lauren Adams, and Eric Stoltz, and James Toback directed it.
What irks me is how the NAACP goes after a screening of "The Birth of a Nation" in Los Angeles claiming to be a stain on race relations, a screening that could have been beneficial since it included a discussion. So they cause that to be shut down, but they won't go after this.
By the way, I found this too, a link to contribute to Martin Luther King Day entertainment:
Or rather, "claiming it to be a stain on race relations."
I don't know why you'd want anyone to go after the laugh-tacular Big Momma, Mr. Rory.
One of the best-reviewed movies by the ethnic press was Diary of a Mad Black Woman.
So, it's rightfully concluded that he key to winning over the Blue-Eyed Devil's heart is the transgendered Negro.
The whole "nanny/housekeeper" aspect might be great if we only saw Martin Lawrence from the waist down, and had an axe-wielding vengeful cat chasing a devious, sociopathic mouse in the background.