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Continuing my plan to watch every Eddie Murphy movie in order, I come to Life (1999)

Plot In A Paragraph: In 1932, two strangers (Murphy and Lawrence) are wrongfully convicted and develop a strong friendship in prison that lasts them through the 20th century.

This is the last movie starring Eddie Murphy, that I chose to go see at the cinema!! That is not counting voice work, I went to see with my kids. This reteams Murphy with his Boomerang costar, Martin Lawrence. 7 years ago, Murphy was a huge star, and Murphy was relatively unknown. Now they were on an equal footing. Ned Beatty (Deliverance) has a small but important role.

I enjoy this movie, and consider it to be under rated. I usually watch this every couple of years. Murphy and Lawrence had genuine chemistry and some out takes and ad libs are actually in the movie. I think this is probably Murphy's last good comedy!! It's not a laugh riot, but it's a seriously touching movie. Probably in my Top 10 Murphy movies.

Life grossed $63 million at the domestic box office, to end the year the 34th highest grossing movie of the year.

Life is a good comedy about 2 men (Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence) who are wrongfully accused of a crime in Mississippi and are sentenced to life in prison. Murphy and Lawrence make one of the best on-screen duo's of the year by acting like they don't like each other, but in reality they need each other to survive. Great laughs and amazing makeup (supplied by Oscar Winner and Oscar nominee for this movie, Rick Baker) make this a must-see for Murphy 1and Lawrence fans, or for anyone looking for a good chuckle. A

After reading the user comments on this movie, it appears that the main complaint is that it is not the rollicking laugh-a-minute comedy that fans of the two leads expected. Once you let that expectation go, this is a great movie! It succeeds as a drama with comic tone. There have been some great ones that do this, and we mistakenly classify them as comedies. For example, M*A*S*H, Mr. Roberts, It's a Wonderful Life. These are pictures that provide comic overtones to people struggling to get through a very serious and overwhelming event: war, contemplated suicide, and in the case of Life, life imprisonment.

I was surprised at how good Murphy is in this flick.Not one of my favorites, he convinces as he ages and grows under the burden his character carries, that of an entire life stolen from him. And he survives with a certain dignity. Lawrence is almost as good, but he does labor a bit with the dramatic parts, seeming a bit uncomfortable shedding his comic bent. Note that when these characters are shown as old men, Murphy actually becomes an old man, Lawrence is still a young man in oldster's make-up.

Let's not overlook an interesting small role expertly understated by Ned Beatty, and the charm of Bokeem Woodbine as Can't Get Right. Life is well-mounted and the sets are as convincing as any I've seen. Comedies are rarely as dirty and sweaty as this movie.

I thoroughly enjoyed this picture, realizing early on that it was a very serious movie wrongly hyped as a comedy.

Looking forward to my next viewing of this. Martin Lawrence once again proves that given a co-star to work off he can deliver, and here he does as he gets Eddie Murphy on prime form to work with. It's a very funny and bittersweet picture, a tale of friendship under duress. A great supporting cast fills out the other convict characters. 8/10

To say this's an underrated comedy is putting it lightly. This was pretty funny. Not only that, I dare even say it had some good commentary about issues the main characters had to face from not just from back then, but also today. The plot's about 2 guys who end up in jail for a crime they didn't commit after a series of mishaps. Most of the film is them trying to survive in the rough prison run by a racist warden.

Throughout their time there, their friendship is tested in various ways. From failed escape plots, constant antagonism by the warden and his self-hating guard, to bitterness on how they came to be in this awful position. During they sentence, they meet a befriend a colorful cast of characters.

Who knew Eddie Murphy and Martín Lawrence would make a great comedy duo? They play off each other well. Them and the supporting cast.

In regards to the commentary, there're some themes that still resonate today: Homophobia, racism, and resilience in the face of hopelessness and adversity. As funny as it is, it still has a great amount of heart and characters we grow to like too (most of them). I have to admit, they never came off as friend last as the film would like you to believe though. That's just my opinion.

Bottom line, this movie's underrated. Another film the critics got wrong. With that being said, check it out if you have time.