Life
Starring Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence, Heavy D
Written by Robert Ramsey & Matthew Stone
Directed by Ted Demme


To be honest with you, and why would I have any reason not to be, I really thought Life would be nothing more than a vulgar “black” comedy starring two loud mouth comedians that seem to be more interested in big paychecks than artistic integrity these days. Then the starting credits starting appearing: Imagine Entertainment, Brian Grazer, Ted Demme... I was beginning to feel that maybe I could be wrong about Life...

Life in fact is a very fulfilling and endearing film. It takes us back to an ugly time when the color of someone’s skin determined the kind of life they could lead. Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence are transported back to the 1930s and play Claude and Ray, two good souls that seem to find trouble due to their ambitions. Like all great duos, they don’t click immediately with each other, but are bursting at the seams with chemistry. Murphy and Lawrence are hilarious together and help tell the story of two men trapped in a southern prison for a crime they didn’t commit, and they do so without hitting us over-the-head with how unfair the world is. Instead, Ted Demme, Murphy, and Lawrence work together to tell us about social injustice through truly touching and truly funny scenes. Something very hard to pull off. The key to the story of Life is hope. Life is about hope -- in the film and in people’s actual lives. Life does a wonderful job of showing us that life is always going to have its ups and downs, but it can also be full of great friendships and laughs as well -- as long as we have hope.


THE RUNDOWN:

The Good: A surprisingly endearing and very funny film.

The Bad: Contains a lot of profanity, which some people may find offensive.

The Law: Give Life a try, you won’t be disappointed.