Bringing Down the House (2003)

Director:

Adam Shankman

Writer (WGA):

Jason Filardi (written by)

Release Date:

7 March 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Everything he needed to know about life, she learned in prison.

Plot:

When a lonely guy meets a woman on the Internet who happens to be in prison, she breaks out to be with him, and proceeds to wreak havoc on his middle-class life.

Plot Keywords:

Lawyer | Divorce | Ex Wife | Catfight | Dating Service

Awards:

3 wins & 13 nominations

Cast

Steve Martin	...	Peter Sanderson
Queen Latifah	...	Charlene Morton
Eugene Levy	...	Howie Rottman
Joan Plowright	...	Virginia Arness
Jean Smart	...	Kate Sanderson
Kimberly J. Brown	...	Sarah Sanderson
Angus T. Jones	...	Georgey Sanderson
Missi Pyle	...	Ashley
Michael Rosenbaum	...	Todd Gendler
Betty White	...	Mrs. Kline
Steve Harris	...	Widow
Jim Haynie	...	Ed Tobias
Aengus James	...	Mike
Jernard Burks	...	Widow's Bodyguard
Bronzell Miller	...	Widow's Bodyguard

Also Known As:

In the Houze (USA) (working title)
JailBabes.com (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for language, sexual humor and drug material.

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:L | Malaysia:U | UK:12 (video rating) | UK:12A (original rating) | South Korea:15 | Argentina:Atp | Australia:M | Brazil:14 | Canada:PG | Finland:K-11 | Germany:6 | Netherlands:MG6 | New Zealand:M | Norway:11 | Peru:PT | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | Spain:T | Sweden:7 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Zurich) | USA:PG-13 (certificate #39572)

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Touchstone Pictures

Trivia:

The Russian title for the film translates as "House Upside Down".

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: The cable to the squib is seen running down from Charlene's foot as she falls backward on the couch in slow motion.

Quotes:

Charlene Morton: [to Peter] You lock me out, no money, no place to go, a sister got to get her cheese on.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Reel Paradise (2005)

Soundtrack:

Way of Life

Light sketch comedy/drama

Tax lawyer Peter Sanderson (Steve Martin) has been falling for Charlene Morton (Queen Latifah) over the Internet. She's sent him a picture of herself, but she was just a tiny figure in the background, being led out of a courthouse in jail clothes and cuffs by two cops, while in the foreground, there was a young, thin, white yuppie-looking female lawyer talking to a reporter. Sanderson believes that Charlene is the yuppie and arranges a date. Of course he's surprised at Charlene's appearance (Latifah is black, "thick" and streetwise in the film) and the fact that she's a con who has done time. Charlene's motivation is to acquire affordable, quality legal services to clean up her record--she swears she's innocent.

Ostensibly a film that would comically explore the serious issue of racism (and other kinds of appearance preconceptions) between two very different communities, Bringing Down the House is more a series of loosely tied gags. It plays like a sketch film, with the theme/subtext as a unifying factor. At that, the gags or sketches are mostly successful, although the film is not quite funny enough to work as an outrageous comedy and not quite serious enough to work as a "message film", even though it may occasionally come close on both accounts.

The three members of the principle cast--Martin, Latifah and Eugene Levy--are good, with Levy being underused, but for me, some of the best material arrived with the supporting cast. Joan Plowright as the wealthy Mrs. Arness, Kimberly J. Brown as Peter's former sister-in-law Sarah, and Betty White as Mrs. Kline, Peter's neighbor all routinely stole the show when they appeared. They were given the most outrageous material, with Arness and Kline being particularly racist. White's character is similar in tone to her excellent supporting role in Lake Placid (1999), although she was underused here.

For some, it may be an asset that the film tries to veer away from becoming cartoonish. I think it would have benefited from moving further into absurdist territory--for my tastes, even though Martin has had many great films, he has never surpassed The Jerk (1979), but that's too much of a personal preference for me to really count it as a flaw. It's also interesting that scripter Jason Filardi tries to work in a mostly serious crime/drama subplot towards the climax, but it's a bit too little, too late, and is an odd change of tone, even though the comedy bits surrounding the subplot are good. On the serious side, other than the material about racism, the strongest aspect is that Charlene teaches Peter how to be a better parent and family man. A couple scenes on that end were actually moving.

Overall, Bringing Down the House is a bit of a mixed bag, but approached as a light "sketch comedy/drama", it is entertaining. My rating occasionally leaned towards a 7, but remained closer to a 7.5 or 8.