Looking forward to my next viewing of this. Martin Lawrence once again proves that given a co-star to work off he can deliver, and here he does as he gets Eddie Murphy on prime form to work with. It's a very funny and bittersweet picture, a tale of friendship under duress. A great supporting cast fills out the other convict characters. 8/10
Life
1999
Action / Comedy / Crime / Drama
Life
1999
Action / Comedy / Crime / Drama
Plot summary
In the mid-1990s, two inmates bury the burned bodies of two lifers at Mississippi's infamous Parchman Farm; a third old-timer relates their story. They'd served 65 years for a murder they didn't commit, framed by a local sheriff while buying moonshine whiskey for a Manhattan club owner to whom they owed money. In flashbacks we see this odd couple thrown together (Ray is a fast-talking con man, and Claude is a serious man about to start work as a bank teller),the loss of Ray's watch (sterling silver, from his daddy),the murder and trial, the hardships of Parchman, and the love-hate relationship of Claude and Ray as they spend 65 years bickering and looking for a way to escape.
Uploaded by: OTTO
Director
Top cast
Movie Reviews
life's what you make it!
Underrated
To say this's an underrated comedy is putting it lightly. This was pretty funny. Not only that, I dare even say it had some good commentary about issues the main characters had to face from not just from back then, but also today. The plot's about 2 guys who end up in jail for a crime they didn't commit after a series of mishaps. Most of the film is them trying to survive in the rough prison run by a racist warden.
Throughout their time there, their friendship is tested in various ways. From failed escape plots, constant antagonism by the warden and his self-hating guard, to bitterness on how they came to be in this awful position. During they sentence, they meet a befriend a colorful cast of characters.
Who knew Eddie Murphy and Martín Lawrence would make a great comedy duo? They play off each other well. Them and the supporting cast.
In regards to the commentary, there're some themes that still resonate today: Homophobia, racism, and resilience in the face of hopelessness and adversity. As funny as it is, it still has a great amount of heart and characters we grow to like too (most of them). I have to admit, they never came off as friend last as the film would like you to believe though. That's just my opinion.
Bottom line, this movie's underrated. Another film the critics got wrong. With that being said, check it out if you have time.
Alternates between annoying and bearable
It's 1932. Rayford Gibson (Eddie Murphy) is a fast talking petty criminal. Straight laced Claude Banks (Martin Lawrence) just got a job as a bank teller. Neither got the money to pay their bills at Spanky Johnson's , and they end up doing a rum run for him. Ray loses his beloved daddy's watch in a crooked card game. When the cops kill the crook, Ray and Claude get blamed for the murder and life in prison.
Martin Lawrence is playing somebody truly idiotic picking a fight with white folks in 30's Mississippi. Eddie Murphy isn't any more likable as the petty schemer. I guess some people may find this comedy duo funny. I just find them alternating between annoying and bearable. The characters have no chemistry at all. They are literally slap dashed together. This movie isn't really a comedy. There isn't anything funny here. Yet it's not gritty enough to be realistic. It occupies a space in between where it's mostly boring.