Jacqueline Williams
Prolific playwright Tyler Perry adapts his popular stage play of the same name in this family-oriented comedy concerning a desperate mother who connects with the family she never knew. Brenda is a single Chicago mother of three who has been struggling for years to keep her kids off of the streets. Suddenly let go from her job with no warning to speak of, the eternally optimistic mother begins to experience a suffocating sense of hopelessness for the very first time in her life. When Brenda receives a death notice claiming that the father she has never met has passed away, she quickly gathers up the kids and sets out for Georgia to attend the funeral. Upon arriving in the Deep South, the once fretful mother is pleasantly surprised to discover that there is a whole side of the family she never knew existed. A crass but good-natured clan that welcomes Brenda and her children with open arms, the Browns' lazy summer afternoons and frequent trips to the county fair offer a much-needed contrast to the stress of surviving in inner city Chicago. Writer/director/actor Perry reprises his role as indomitable, law-breaking grandmother Madea in a comedy that proves sometimes second chances come when you least expect it. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Angela Bassett, Rick Fox, (more)
A once-loving Chicago couple whose happily-ever-after quickly turned into a never-again finds their crumbling romance complicated when both parties refuse to move out of the pair's recently purchased condo. The Break-Up is a romantic comedy that starts where all the others end. The future once looked promising for thirtysomething couple Brooke (Jennifer Aniston) and Gary (Vince Vaughn), but lately it seems like a series of increasingly petty and intolerable squabbles have snuffed any semblance of romance in their relationship. Their confrontation endlessly fueled by mean-spirited suggestions of revenge tactics from friends and family and their stubborn refusal to budge resulting in an excruciating stalemate, Brooke and Gary ultimately decide to spitefully stick it out as hostile roommates until the weaker party eventually admits defeat. As the competition to drive one another out grows increasingly intense and outrageous, however, Brooke eventually comes to the realization that she's not fighting for possession of the condominium as much as she is fighting to salvage her relationship with the man she once viewed as the love of her life. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Aniston, (more)
- 2000
An ex-con tries to go straight, but finds that nearly everyone who knows him has other plans in this darkly comic crime story. Nicky Burkett (Chiwetel Ejiofor) grew up in the rough-and-tumble North London community of Walthamstow, where he slid into a criminal career as a lad that landed him in prison. After five years behind bars he's eager to start his life over on the right side of the law, but Nicky hasn't been on the streets very long when he realizes his friends and family haven't gotten the message that he's gone straight. Nicky's buddies get him mixed up in a robbery at a post office from which he only narrowly escapes, and Vernon (James Bolam), a veteran mobster, asks him if he's interested in knocking someone off for money. Mickey (Max Beesley), an aspiring crime tycoon, offers Nicky a job with his organization, while Rameez (Sidh Solanki), another London gangster, tenders a similar offer -- suggested by Sharon (Jacqueline Williams), Nicky's sister (and Rameez's girlfriend). Meanwhile, Nicky's own significant other, Kelly (Nicola Stapleton), breaks the news to him that she's found someone else and is breaking it off with him. Nicky already has his eye on another girl, Noreen (Thandie Newton), but her policeman father George (Hugh Quarshie) doesn't trust Nicky as far as he can throw him. It Was an Accident features an original score by jazz saxophonist Courtney Pine. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandie Newton, (more)
What do you do if you're a white guy in a white town who happens to love black music? Flip (Danny Hoch) is a middle-class kid from the Iowa corn belt, but he doesn't think of himself as just another guy from farm country. Flip loves hip-hop, and he longs to be respected as a hard-core rapper. But a white guy from Iowa who drops mad rhymes looks weird. While Flip and his buddies Trevor (Mark Webber) and James (Dash Mihok) may have the clothes, the style, and the lingo down pat, to most folks they look like three white boys trying to be black. When Khalid (Eugene Byrd), an African-American from Chicago, transfers into Flip's school, Flip comes to his rescue when other kids give him a hard time, and, while Khalid is as baffled by Flip's affectations as most people, a friendship grows between them, and Khalid grudgingly agrees to take Flip and his crew to Chicago, where they get a look at hip-hop culture in a way they haven't seen before. Director Marc Levin previously explored elements of hip-hop culture in his first dramatic film, Slam; he also made a number of acclaimed documentaries, including Gang War: Bangin' in Little Rock, about middle-class kids who have absorbed the gang lifestyle through popular culture. Whiteboys features appearances by a number of noted hip-hop artists, including Snoop Dogg, Slick Rick, Doug E. Fresh, and Fat Joe. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Danny Hoch, Dash Mihok, (more)
- 1993
- PG13
Ruby L. Oliver's indie debut is a semi-autobiographical drama focusing on the struggles of woman living in the ghetto of Southside Chicago who must cope with an alcoholic husband and three troubled children (two layabout sons and an unmarried, pregnant daughter). ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carol E. Hall, Audrey Morgan, (more)
