Big Mommas House 2 [DVD]

Funnyman Martin Lawrence steps back into the latex fatsuit for Big Momma's House 2, the sequel to one of Lawrence's biggest hits. Malcolm Turner (Lawrence, Bad Boys) goes undercover, turning his Big Momma disguise into a nanny for a computer company executive who may be concocting a means to hack into military databases. But that's just a pretense to get Big Momma coping with a perfectionist mom and her three kids, who are all dysfunctional in cute and easily resolved ways. Naturally, Big Momma dispenses life lessons and catches the crooks while Lawrence does his best to milk his fat drag act for cheap laughs. Unfortunately, those cheap laughs never quite pay off; the script is a wastebasket of cliches and clumsy set-ups for gags that never seem worth the effort. The movie desperately wants to appeal to women with cute kids while luring men with a spa visit featuring scantily clad Victoria's Secret models. Even Lawrence's fans will find themselves snoozing through this one. --Bret Fetzer