Um Bom Ano

Well, from the little press I saw regarding this movie when it first came out, I'll admit I wasn't running to the theater. (I wasn't even running to the video store.) However, when it came on HBO recently, my sister told me to sit down and watch it, to compare it to our family.

This movie was almost scary in how closely it mimicked our gatherings (especially funerals, but all gatherings in general). I really felt like the writers knew us, as they hit several depictions right on the head.

The Slocums are more the typical Black family than most movies will show nowadays--sure there are a few people who lose their way now and again, but family brings them back around. (What family isn't slightly dysfunctional anyway? It just makes family gatherings more amusing. Heck--my family even has the three holy-terror-boys who run around every gathering destroying everything.)

I'm not going to say that the acting was outstanding, or the script completely original because it wasn't. THE SCRIPT WAS REALISTIC, THOUGH. It wasn't original because anyone could have sat through a funeral in their family and copied things word for word. I do recommend this movie. The last minute is a little cheesy, but hey, the rest of the movie works so well that you accept it. There weren't any unnecessary curses, gratuitous violence or sex. It was just a movie about family. What is more real than that?

This is the ultimate feel-good movie because you feel like it is real. Some movies are just too contrived, but I had to smile to myself at the end of this movie. It shows how the strength of your family helps you cope and heal together.

I had the privilege of viewing this movie twice and laughed just as hard the second time around. The film does well at portraying the strong bonds within an African American family despite any circumstances. I recommend this family film to all.

This absolutely outstanding film is an total delight.

There were lots of big laugh-out-loud scenes, great humour, wit and charm.

LL Cool J absolutely walks away with the film in his amazing acting job as the son of the man that no one likes – but they have all come together to bury.

As my friends and family will tell you, I have always had a not-so-secret crush on Whoopi Goldberg. This film reinforces that crush – she is the rock in the maelstrom of insanity that surrounds the burial of her much-despised husband.

The characters are quietly complex – especially LL Cool J's character – who has demons that pursue him, including the inability to mourn the father that he disliked so much.

Most of the humour is fairly subtle and cerebral – though there is one absolutely great scene that slides into bathroom humour about the affect of Mexican food on the minister (Cedric the Entertainer) that officiates at the funeral.

This is a family story – it could be anyone's family. It is irrelevant that the family is African American: this family crosses all colour lines. They behave badly at times but they are there for each other in a way that all families should be but seldom are.

You would think that with Toni Braxton in the film any singing would be done by her – not so. There is a very nice 3 woman church choir that includes the Saturday Night Live alum, Ellen Cleghorn. The song at the funeral is sung by Jada Pinkett Smith – and she does a great job.

In checking viewer votes there were almost as many `1' votes as there were `10s'… I think that some people just didn't get it. Their loss.

I rented this movie just because my family kept telling me I had to see it. They kept telling me how funny it was. Well, as soon as Whoopi's character started speaking, I automatically recognized the dialogue from a play called "Dearly Departed" in which I played Jada's character "Charrise". In the play, Junior's wife was named "Suzanne". I was so excited that my favorite comedic play had become a movie. I love this movie.

I hadn't really heard much about "Kindom Come" before watching it except for the fact that Whoopi Goldberg was in it (which was my main reason for seeing this movie) so I didn't have a lot of expectations. However, when seeing it I found it both a funny and touching movie with some great acting, especially from LL Cool J who plays Ray Slocumb, and from Whoopi Goldberg, though her role in the movie is just a small cameo.

What I found most interesting about this movie, though, was the way it describes the Slocumb family. In spite of the all-black cast it isn't just a great and funny movie showing a down to earth black family - it is presenting a family that could be of any color, and it does it in a really warm and touching way that also brings a laugh or two along the way.

Therefore this is certainly a cute, funny and heart warming movie worth seeing.