Kingdom Come Review
by Norm Schrager (cnull AT mindspring DOT com)April 13th, 2001
KINGDOM COME
A film review by Norm Schrager
Copyright 2001 filmcritic.com
filmcritic.com
When LL Cool J stars in a movie with a title like Kingdom Come, you
expect to see car chases, stuff getting blown up, that sort of thing.
Instead, we get a fairly average, seen-it-before, family comedy that has
its moments as well as its problems -- just like the clan in the movie.
When the Slocumb family patriarch -- evidently an ornery sonofabitch --
keels over in front of wife Whoopi Goldberg, it sets off a Slocumb
pilgrimage back to the tiny town of Lula for a weekend of last
respects. But, like most extended families, there is friction,
conflict, and the occasional secret.
Director Doug McHenry, working from a screenplay by David Dean Bottrell
and Jessie Jones (based on their play Dearly Departed), introduces the
Slocumbs by route of broad humor, some of it too uncomfortable for
laughs. Son Junior (Anthony Anderson) goes ballistic during the drive
to Lula, his wife (Jada Pinkett Smith) and kids hollering in the car,
and pulls out a gun. Nephew Royce (Darius McCrary) talks and acts like
a hood while toting his Bible-loving mother along, telling her he can't
wait to settle down and have kids so he can collect welfare. These
settings are funny?
But once the family settles in, it's clear that the filmmakers were more
interested in the pain and hardship behind those humorous facades. LL
Cool J's Ray is a recovering alcoholic, trying to keep it together for
others while hatred for his father boils up; Junior's infidelity and
bankruptcy come to the fore; and we learn that Royce's only brother is
in prison.
What keeps Kingdom Come from melding these storylines into a superior
film is a lack of execution -- the scenes played for comedy are not that
funny, and the dramatic sequences seem to lack a greater depth that they
deserve.
The acting quality runs the gamut. LL Cool J is capable and
understated, Anderson is likeable, even when he's short-changed by the
dialogue, and Goldberg is appropriately subdued in the smaller role of
mother hen. Pinkett Smith is this film's version of nails on a
chalkboard, playing every line, emotion, and movement at full throttle.
She is needlessly annoying and the movie always feels better when she's
not on screen.
The final act is a heartfelt look at love and thankfulness, but it
ultimately smacks of sitcom resolution, right down to a poor pastor (the
excellent Cedric the Entertainer) with gas problems cracking up a
stern-faced congregation. The movie's happiness does have a certain
satisfying feel, but it's never as honest or as entertaining as the
dramatic moments. In the long run, however, Kingdom Come is saved by
its earnestness. Barely.
RATING: ***
|------------------------------|
\ ***** Perfection \
\ **** Good, memorable film \
\ *** Average, hits and misses \
\ ** Sub-par on many levels \
\ * Unquestionably awful \
|------------------------------|
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Doug McHenry
Producers: John Morrissey, Edward Bates
Writers: David Dean Bottrell, Jessie Jones
Starring: LL Cool J, Jada Pinkett Smith, Vivica A. Fox, Loretta Devine,
Anthony Anderson, Toni Braxton, Cedric the Entertainer, Darius McCrary,
Whoopi Goldberg
http://www.foxsearchlight.com/kingdomcomethemovie/index.htm
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