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entertaining u newspaper: your weekly guide to entertainment
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Seen, Heard, Noted & Quoted
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by rick grant rickgrant01@comcast.net
C+ Rated PG 92 min
This extreme house make-over-gone-bad story is a remake of Mr. Blanding Builds His Dream Home. Ice Cube’s production company put the deal together with Steve Carr directing and Ice Cube starring as Nick Persons, with Nia Long playing his wife Suzanne. As savvy viewers know, Ice Cube alone can’t carry a picture. However, Cube, as co-executive producer, had the sense to hire Scrubs stand-out John C. McGinley as the crazy man of many hats, Chuck Mitchell.
McGinley dominates the film with his clever impersonations of various characters who drive Nick up the wall with his roles of the real estate agent, then the contractor, house inspector, and most bizarre, a midwife. Yes, McGinley saves the movie from tedium with his hilarious shtick. Each of his characters doesn’t acknowledge the others which infuriates Nick and is funny.
Nick’s problems start when Chuck sells him a defective house with faulty wiring, dry-rot, and a leaky roof just to name a few of its problems. Chuck the contractor to the rescue. Chuck can fix Nick’s house for a steep price. Nick has no choice but to go ahead with the renovations that end up tearing up most of the house. It’s the make-over nightmare that every person who buys a fixer-upper dreads.
To add to Nick’s soaring stress level, Suzanne announces she is pregnant with twins. He bought the house on an advance of his new magazine he is planning to publish. Now, because of the house problems, he can’t meet the deadlines and his backer, Magic Johnson, hasn’t confirmed his involvement. Things are up in the air, and Nick has to contend with Chuck, who pulls up with his Airstream trailer to live on the property while the house is being remodeled.
Of course, viewers will identify with this make-over story. Everyone has been through at least one construction nightmare in their lives. So, Ice Cube’s film has broad appeal. Having a racially diverse cast assures a crossover audience. Still, much of the humor is low-lever pratfalls and slapstick.
Suzanne’s kids, Lindsey and Kevin (Aleisha Allen and Philip Bolden) by another marriage are not happy to move to the country. Lindsey can’t even get a cell phone signal and there is no mall. Her world has crashed down around her. Now that Suzanne is pregnant, Nick must finish the house and get his magazine off the ground. But with continuous interruptions and the confusion of construction, Nick is a basket case.
The scenario does not leave room for much character development, but bringing in colorful characters, like the Hawaiian construction workers expands the comedy possibilities. When Suzanne suddenly goes into labor, there’s not time to drive her to the nearest hospital, so Chuck goes into his midwife character and helps her with the delivery. Nick faints when he sees the baby’s head coming out.
The script, which was written by a cadre of scribes, is pieced together scene-ideas from many older movies, which is a giant cop-out. Only McGinley shines with his outrageous comedic bits. Ice Cube is a one-dimensional actor, who is basically playing himself in every film.
However, over his film career, he has built up his clout to the point that he can close deals. Ah yes, it’s a sad commentary on what low level shtick gets greenlighted. In Cube’s case, he has a track record of making money on his type of African-American films. In other words, for the financial backers, it’s a safe bet. It has proven appeal. Cube falls down and people laugh. It’s a simple concept and a cheap trick but it works every time. For Cube, it’s enough on which to build his film career.
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