Great cast almost saves 'Welcome Home' from predictable pitfalls
"Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins" starts out as a sub-par Martin Lawrence vehicle about a self-help talk-show guru named Roscoe Jenkins who peddles pop philosophy panaceas under the pseudonym RJ Stevens.
Then the movie changes for the better, becoming an improbable but genial black ensemble comedy about Roscoe's return home to Dry Springs, Ga., for a family reunion, his first trip back in nine years.
It's an improvement, but only a small one.
MOVIE REVIEW "Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins" 2 stars out of fourStarring: Martin Lawrence, James Earl Jones, Margaret Avery, Cedric the Entertainer, Mo'Nique, Michael Clarke Duncan and Mike EppsDirected by:Malcolm D. LeeOther: A Universal Pictures release. Rated PG-13 (language, sexual situations, drug use). Running time: 114 minutes.
Originality doesn't make the party here. Like most movie comedy returnees (Steve Carell's Dan in 2007's "Dan in Real Life," for example), Roscoe both relives the past and stumbles into romantic pitfalls before learning that, Thomas Wolfe aside, you can go home again -- and often should.
In this case though, the cast kicks up the movie and nearly saves it. Writer-director Malcolm D. Lee, the cousin of the nonpareil Spike Lee, has assembled quite a roster for the Jenkins clan, after Roscoe arrives in Dry Springs accompanied by his drop-dead-gorgeous-but-howlingly-obnoxious girlfriend, Bianca Kittles (Joy Bryant), and his con man cousin Reggie (Mike Epps).
Papa Jenkins is the sonorous James Earl Jones and Mamma is Margaret Avery, who seduced Whoopi Goldberg in "The Color Purple." Roscoe's brother Otis, an ex-NFL player sidelined by injuries, is the burly, genial Michael Clarke Duncan, and loudmouth sister Betty is played by funny lady Mo'Nique.
Cedric the Entertainer portrays Roscoe's main nemesis and youthful scourge, sneaky cousin Clyde, a successful businessman who is still spending time with Roscoe's unrequited high school love Lucinda (Nicole Ari Parker).
That group could probably take an old "One Man's Family" script and make it funny, and they definitely put some life into Lee's picnic. But it remains a highly improbable affair. The Jenkinses seem somewhat blas#233; when you consider that Roscoe hasn't been around for nine years, and that he's become a TV superstar. And the various romantic and family complications get resolved with the unusual ease of one of Roscoe/RJ's TV talk show sessions.
By the way, does greed-crazed Bianca really have to be a "Survivor" winner/star to be a fit girlfriend for Roscoe? "Welcome Home" often seems to be the kind of story you might dream up while channel-surfing (we see an NFL vet here, a lost teenage love there). And that's especially true in the family obstacle course race that pits Roscoe against Clyde, conveniently whipping up a possible second-chance rerun of their big youthful showdown.
If you're looking for surprises in "Welcome Home," you'll find more of them at the concession stand. But still, the juicy cast knows how to get a laugh or two. Especially Cedric and Epps.