Friday, March 7, 2003

"WHO KNEW THERE WAS A SCREENWRITING CLASS AT BOB JONES UNIVERSITY?" Via the forums at Fametracker.com (thanks, Philyra) comes the standard against all past and future Bringing Down the House reviews will be compared: the Mr. Cranky review.

I encourage you read it in full. It's that good -- angry, funny, and with a great insight into why Steve Martin's character doesn't fall in love with Queen Latifah in the end -- or, at any point:
Here's why the character of Howie Rosenthal (Eugene Levy) exists: Film executives know that white America wouldn't tolerate a romantic relationship between the whitest of white lawyers, Peter Sanderson (Steve Martin), and the blackest of black former prison inmates, Charlene (Queen Latifah). The second Steve Martin put a seriously passionate and romantic lip-lock on Queen Latifah, most white people would run screaming from the theater like they'd been sprayed in the face with oven cleaner. However, it's perfectly okay if the freaky little Jewish guy falls for her, because he's hairy, very weird, and represents only about 8% of the potential market for this film.

Roger Ebert also raises this point, only not as well.

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