The Cookout

i saw it the first night, for queen's first movie (that she produced) it was OK but i know her talent from previous movies and it could have been better. but i think that the main focus she was going for that family should always stick together. no matter how rich or poor you are your family will always be there for you. don't every let anyone or anything make you change for the worse. money isn't everything, it can't play you happiness. that you find with those you love and those who love you back for you and nothing else. like the character's best friend who always watch his games. his girlfriend was only in it for the money like most females are but his best friend was there before it all started and she loved him for just him.

I once read that if you want to watch a movie and just to be entertained, then take your brain out and relax. I thought this movie would fit into this category. When I first saw the trailers, and bits and pieces of the movie I thought it was worth watching. So I did. To be honest I was disappointed.

With all of the big names like Danny Glover, Farrah Fawcett, Jenifer Lewis, Queen Latifah, and Frankie Faison to name a few, I had thought this would be great. At best I felt the movie was slow and the lines delivered as if they were being read.

As for the morality of the movie, one could argue it set the tone for being responsible about money. But I also saw a contradiction in moral and racial issues. The first issue is the smoking of marijuana. To see a "judge", Danny Glover smoking it, what does this say about the real world? The movie played on the fears of predominately white segregated, walled communities. At least that part was true.

The third item was in regards to the black male and white female role in an interracial marriage. Why in the end was everyone happy to see Danny Glover (Judge Crowley) dominate his white wife, Farrah Fawcett (Mrs. Crowley), yet Frankie Faison (JoJo Anderson) is submissive to his wife Jenifer Lewis (Lady Em)? Does this mean that all black men in an interracial marriage should be "Master and Commander?" Does this state that black men marry outside of their race because the black woman is too strong and dominant? Does this mean that all white females become submissive when dominated by a black man? I don't think so as I am in an interracial marriage and took offense to those messages.

With the above aside, I took my brain out and tried to just be entertained. I laughed through a few parts, and the rest of the plot I could see through. Would I see it again? Maybe.

I had expected more with all of the big names and maybe this is the problem.

It's silly, it's obnoxious, it's predictable, it's mindless and I loved every frame! It's your basic young man who comes into money too soon and starts spending it (cause of an obnoxious climber of a girlfriend), much to the dismay of his mother. The fact that he has to seek an endorsement on the weekend of the family barbecue upsets the uptight girlfriend but that leaves the door open for the lovely Eve.

Queen Latifah is marvelous, as is Jennifer Lewis (fabulous!) and all the other cast. Danny Glover is stunningly campy and Farrah Fawcett is still very funny. Jonathan Silverman is good but my favorite is Marci Reid, who plays the repressed Miss Peters and gets all the laughs the fish out of water should get! She holds her own with the rest of the cast and gets the big laughs.

It's a funny movie. Check it out.

The Cookout (2004) is a movie that I recently watched on HBOMAX. The storyline follows a family whose son has been drafted into the NBA. Shortly after being drafted he meets a new girlfriend and they quickly move towards marriage. When they blow most of the son's money the family tries to step in and knock him to his senses at a family BBQ. What could go wrong?

This movie was directed by Lance Rivera (A Perfect Holiday) and stars Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon), Quran Pender (Brown Sugar), Jenifer Lewis (The Princess and the Frog), Tim Meadows (Mean Girls), Ja Rule (The Fast and the Furious), Farrah Fawcett (Logan's Run) and Meagan Good (Think Like a Man).

This movie has a tremendous cast that is criminally poorly utilized. The writing is disappointing - the storyline, dialogue and comedic content are all cheesy and cliche. Danny Glover had a few funny moments and Meagan Good was gorgeous, but there wasn't enough worthwhile moments to enjoy this film. The soundtrack was solid.

Overall, this was a tragically poorly put together picture. I would score this film a 3/10 and recommend skipping it.

This movie is very so-so.(i.e. the acting, directing, story)

This movie has a lot of dislikeable characters the first moment you see them which made this movie a little hard to watch. Also a lot of streotypes of whites. I was surprised I didn't see any watermelon eating in this movie. The plot is, a basketball player (Storm P) wants to have the annual family cookout in his new house surrounded by "WHITE PEOPLE" who believe he is a "GANG BANGER". His mother (Jennifer Lewis) was the first dislikeable character to me. Because she is always yapping her mouth like she does in every movie shes in. This movie also did not flow well. For example, something could be happening and then maybe one character has to leave and go do something. They never show what happens after that character does after. It was like this movie had a thousand deleted scenes.Just like Johnson Family Vacation, which was a bad movie cause it was trying to be a National Lampoon film.In summary, it was a lot worse than I expected. I think Storm P(Quran Pender), Ja Rule, Queen Latifah, & Tim Meadows kept this movie watchable.

6/10 **