The Cookout (2004)
Runtime: 1 hr 37 mins
Theatrical Release: Sep 3, 2004 Wide
Box Office: $11,540,112
Synopsis: TODD ANDERSON is chosen as the #1 NBA draft pick by the New Jersey Nets and signs a contract for thirty million dollars that instantly changes his life. Whether he likes it or not his mom, LADY EM played by Jenifer Lewis, is not going to let her son forget his roots. Todd is at a crossroads and with his... TODD ANDERSON is chosen as the #1 NBA draft pick by the New Jersey Nets and signs a contract for thirty million dollars that instantly changes his life. Whether he likes it or not his mom, LADY EM played by Jenifer Lewis, is not going to let her son forget his roots. Todd is at a crossroads and with his new found wealth becomes vulnerable to the influence of other people. Todd buys a new house and mistakenly invites family from the old neighborhood for a cookout on the same day he scheduled an endorsement interview. The cookout is a family tradition more extravagant than the typical American dinner gathering because it's like a giant reunion and all havoc breaks loose for the feast of Southern home cooking. As the new black man living in a stuffy white neighborhood, Todd attracts a lot of attention. Queen Latifah is the eccentric security guard that makes matters worse for Todd. She's poised to bust him if any of the neighborhood association's myriad of rules gets broken. Unfortunately for Todd as the family arrives, the rules get broken. Peeping neighbors are drawn to and gawk at the group of Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and wild unidentified babies in diapers. One particular neighbor – a conservative Republican JUDGE CROWLEY, played by Danny Glover, fears the worst with Todd’s arrival. Todd becomes so focused on his image that he is embarrassed about his family. Meanwhile, BLING BLING and WHEEZER two good-for-nothing tough crash the party and hold Todd’s girlfriend at gunpoint in order to get him to autograph his sneakers. Little do they know this family is so determined to eat that they are fearless of the criminals that invade the cookout. The chaos caused by the hoodlums helps Todd realize how much he needs his family support and it's clear that the Cookout is a family tradition that always brings the right people together. [More]
Genre: Comedies
Starring: Storm P, Eve, Queen Latifah, Danny Glover, Tim Meadows
Screenwriter: Laurie Turner, Jeffrey Brian Holmes, Arthur Harris, Ramsey Gbelawoe
Producer: Queen Latifah, Shakim Compere
Composer: Camara Kambon
DVD Info
Release:
Jan 18, 2005
DVD Features:
- Region (unknown)
- Keep Case
- Full Frame - 1.33
Buy It On DVD
Reviews
Seemingly assembled from ideas on the cutting-room floor of a cancelled sitcom.
There may be someone in the audience who goes into hysterics at the mere sight of a baby’s diaper soaked through with ****, but, if so, I hope never to meet him.
Uma “comédia” sem a menor graça que, com seus estereótipos ofensivos a brancos, negros e homossexuais, falha não só do ponto de vista cinematográfico, mas também humano.
...a taxing and intolerable vehicle that has all the charm of a gold-toothed rapper’s root canal. The Cookout is certainly not any food for thought.
It's low comedy and it's crudely made. But that's no excuse for it being dull.
Everything else here -- from the gross caricatures to the so-called comic mayhem -- is sour to taste.
Plenty of action and confusion in this wild story that culminates in a cookout.
It does provide some true laughs and, incredibly, some real humanity.
The movie unfolds in the most perfunctory fashion. At least the food looks good.
This is one more entry in the long list of 'urban comedies' that dish out the kind of humor that would probably spark protests if the filmmakers weren't African-American.
Rivera and a host of screenwriters were apparently as cowed by Lady Em as Todd; she sucks up much of the screen time, and admirable though her family values may be, they're not exactly rip-roaring funny.
Todd's payday apparently sends comedy backward in time, and we're in the 1970s, ethno-sitcom style.
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