We Are Family

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.

I accuired this film on DVD about a month or so back and i wasn't really expecting a hell of alot of it until i actually got round to watching it, I watched it and was blown away by just how good it was, with stunning performances from Cedric The Entertainer, LL Cool J, Anthony Anderson and a good performance from a name that is quite new to me of Darius McCrary who really brought the comedy to the film.

What a delightful movie! It's about family, and love, and dreams, and how we get along in this world -- especially with our nearest and not-always-dearest. It's warm and wistful and laugh-out-loud funny!

As for Goldberg's part, though promotions may have given her high billing, in fact her part is minuscule. But even if she'd been absent, this cast did more than enough to entertain.

LL Cool J did a fine job in the lead, only his name betraying his rap origins. He was joined by a host of other talented actors, including a favorite of mine, Loretta Devine, as a classic "momma." Another performance I particularly enjoyed was Cedric the Entertainer's role of the Reverend.

But everybody was good! Great ensemble acting -- _everyone_ was just right, including even the bit players, and they all blended into a very believable whole. The dialogue was witty, capturing exactly the character types, but down-to-earth without resorting to cheap crudity.

I kept thinking, "This would make an excellent play for community theater!" Great character types, great major roles, lots of smaller and non-speaking parts, easy to set. Then the credits showed that it had been adapted from David Dean Bottrell's play "Dearly Departed." It made me long to 'tread the boards' again -- join a great cast like that and take part in the play's warmth, truth and wry good humor.

The funeral of a hard-to-love father brings together his extended family, with their various relational wrinkles, all of which are plausibly solved by the end.

The story is kind, forgiving of human foibles, and in good taste throughout. The 'bathroom humor' mentioned in another review is a very light, one-time thing -- gas due to indigestion -- that is also a necessary plot device. I don't see how it could have been handled any better another way.

My satellite service will be showing this film all month, and I plan to watch it a couple more times. And beyond its humor, because of its warm heart and human hope I intend to buy the video.

It's about Family (anyone's Family) and it's Funny. I watch it at least once a Quarter and quote lines from it weekly. "You know what it is to watch something you love, just shrivel up and die" ... Jada was Priceless. Vivica, Whoopi, LL Cool J, Anthony Anderson, Toni Braxton, forgetting some of the "real names" but Aunt Maugarite (trying hard NOT to be her, personally ... hahaha), Royce and Floyd the Mechanic. Oh and Cedric the Entertainer. All Star Class i my book and just a Great Movie about people to keep you sane as you live your life with them and yourself, of course. Please buy a copy today. (just a personal recommendation)

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.