Deliver Us from Eva

The director, screenwriters, cinematographer and the two leads deserve the warmest praise for what they have done here. The primary defect in this film is in the performances of the six supporting "brothers" and sisters roles. Only in the scenes where they supported the main characters were these characters worth watching. This is probably partly due to weaknesses in the script and partly to the weaknesses of the actors. It was even obvious from some of the outtakes on the DVD, that the brothers were supposed to have had outright murder in mind, this was thankfully edited out of the print, so it's obvious that the script could not have been perfect as originally submitted.

The director/screenwriter Gary Hardwick has mentioned that he had to adapt the original script to African American culture and shows himself here to be very talented. What is obvious from the fine performances of LL Cool J and Gabrielle Union, is that he certainly could have paid more attention to the minor roles than he did.

Such an uneven movie! LL Cool J and Gabrielle Union deserve a 10. Cinematography, a 10. Script, an 8 - the story is basically good - as a romantic comedy, it works! Director gets an 7. The rest of the brothers and sisters get a 3, if not lower. I'm thinking if I could send Hardwick an email and ask why, he would answer, "The studio got what they paid for." What a shame. There are a lot of moments where this film hits the ball out of the park, and so it needs to be recommended.

If you like LL Cool J, then this movie is for you. It was pretty good and had some funny moments. Most of which come from the smart mouth comments made by no-nonsense Eva. There are also some good gossip scenes at the beauty shop. The story is nothing original; you know exactly where it is going. Of course, the player falls for the girl whose heart he is supposed to break. They just made a mistake at the end by having a really cheesy, knight comes riding in on a white horse, type of moment. It was too hollywood and didn't really go with the rest of the film.

FINAL VERDICT: There is no mystery with this movie. It is what it is. So, if you like mildly funny moments with a stereotypical romantic plot, then you may want to give this a try.

Another movie base on William Shakespeare - The Taming of the Shrew but this time a black and older people version. (No racism intended)

Three Friends hired Ray to escort Eva, so that she would be out of their marriage life after she influence too much on their wife.

Though I have seen this in Ten Things I Hate About You, I still very much enjoying this movie and somewhat surpass my expectation. LL Cool J is great here and the flow of the movie is just right.

Overall this is a good adaptation.

Recommendation: If You Are Over 25 Watch This, Younger Watch 10 Things I Hate About You.

Rating: 6.5/10 (Grade: C+)

Synopsis: Perfectionist and Health-Inspector from Hell Eva Dandridge (played by Gabrielle Union) is a constant nuisance for her in-laws and her sisters. To keep her from meddling in their lives,Eva is matched with a single guy named Ray(played by rapper/actor LL Cool J),a local playboy type who has been paid $5,000 to date her. The trouble really starts with Ray falls in love with her ending in hilarious and sometimes tragic results.

The problem with this movie is that it plays itself like a tired sitcom focusing mainly on the characters and their problems,but overall it is funny in parts especially with performances from some of the actors. Also,as for an "R" rated movie,this was one of the cleanest "R" rated films that I ever saw since most of the material deals with some sex-related dialogue and only one curse word used throughout the film. As for the lead actress here,this is finally the chance to see Gabrielle Union take charge here and it is a step up from her past material(her last good movie role was that of a cheerleader in Bring It On) as star status. You will see more of her as she progresses forward in better roles,but for this film this is just a start.

Watching it requires more from the audience than the actors. The story and direction is what you'd expect from religious TV. 4 of 10 simply because the overall effect isn't horrible, just lackluster.

Wait for a TV release. In fact, you can wait for it to appear on public TV since the R rating is really only there as part of a marketing gimmick to get more guys to watch. It's a television movie of the week with a few naughty words thrown in.

Yes, it's a romantic comedy, with little comedy, delivered just in time for Valentine's day because you'd have a hard time getting people to watch it for free at any other time of the year.

So what's positive about it? It can be funny and critical of some common social perceptions present in early 21st century USA. But there's a lot of pain for that gain.