Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins

Last week I was home sick watching some movies on cable. What else am I suppose to do with my sick day? So as I’m scrolling through channels and I land on
Blue Streak starring Martin Lawrence and Luke Wilson. The movie also has a small role with a comedian by the name of Dave Chappelle. I realized that I forgot how funny Martin’s movies used to be. There are some real laugh-out-loud moments in that movie. This is film had a okay plot, but Martin’s antics carried the film turning this okay action/comedy into a decent movie.

This weekend I ventured out of my home to see Martin’s latest movie Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins. Martin stars as Roscoe Jenkins, a talk show host who is going home for his parents 50th wedding anniversary. He’s bringing ex survivor contestant/fiancée Bianca (Joy Bryant) along for the trip.

Most of the film revolves around Roscoe’s relationship with his father Papa Jenkins (James Earl Jones) and his competition with cousin Clyde (Cedric The Entertainer) for the love of Lucinda (Nicole Ari Parker).

Most of the film just seemed dry. Some of the subplots are underdeveloped and leave you uninterested. There was a lot of physical humor, but if you aren’t into that you may want to sit this one out. I’m not a big fan of physical comedy. It doesn’t take much to make a face like I just smelled something nasty. It was the same old bits from the early 80’s. I just wasn’t amused. As funny as the comedians in the film are, Martin, Mike Epps, Mo’Nique, and Cedric The Entertainer, it felt like they were on a leash and couldn’t really be funny. I’ve seen them all be good in other movies so I wonder where all that funny went

The bright spot of the movie had to be Mike Epps as Roscoe’s cousin Reggie. Some of his one-liners were hilarious and he stole a few scene with just his facial expressions. The movie would have been much better if it had more that comedic freedom. You do get to see a glimpse of that freedom from the other comedians as closing credits roll. That by far was the funniest part of the movie and half of the theater had already left. The funniest moment of the night did not come from the a scene in the movie or the girl with the haircut from Mad Max that I saw at Applebee’s later that night. About halfway through the movie a baby starts crying and a man yells from across the theater, “Oh no! You got to take that out in the hallway”. Reason #184 I love going to the movies.

My suggestion: I’d wait to see it. It’s extremely predictable and doesn’t showcase anything that we haven’t already seen. This could have been a really clean family comedy or a really raunchy R rated comedy. Welcome Home seems to be stuck somewhere in between. With no real identity, this movie doesn’t flow well an may leave you wanting more or just wanting to leave.