RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
RT's Blu-ray HQ
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | In Theaters
  • | Opening
  • | Upcoming
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
  • | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / On DVD / The Cookout
The Cookout

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Get this Movie
  • Buy Poster External Icon
  • Visit Official Site External Icon
Bookmark and Share

The Cookout (2004)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
5 %
Tomatometer
Template ImageTemplate Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted:39

Fresh:2

Rotten:37

Average Rating:2.8/10

Consensus: Good-natured but prepared with an absence of craft, The Cookout is an unappetizing collection of warmed-over jokes.

Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for drug content, sexual references and language

Runtime: 1 hr 37 mins

Genre: Comedies

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... 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]

Starring: Storm P, Ja Rule, Queen Latifah, Danny Glover

Starring: Storm P, Ja Rule, Queen Latifah, Danny Glover, Tim Meadows, Eve, Farrah Fawcett, Jenifer Lewis, Meagan Good

Director: Lance Rivera

Director: Lance Rivera
Screenwriter: Laurie Turner, Jeffrey Brian Holmes, Arthur Harris, Ramsey Gbelawoe
Producer: Queen Latifah, Shakim Compere
Composer: Camara Kambon
Studio: Lions Gate Films

[See More Credits]

  • Trailers
  • Pictures
1 - 5 of 14

See More Movie Trailers & Pictures

Get This Movie

Rent DVD
 
 

Click on the "ADD" button to put this movie into your Netflix queue.

 
 
Buy DVD
 
 
Release:

Jan 18, 2005

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for The Cookout

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

Director Lance Rivera has never directed a movie before, and he doesn’t start here.

Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review | comment Comment
08/07/08
Jim Lane
Jim Lane
Sacramento News & Review

Seemingly assembled from ideas on the cutting-room floor of a cancelled sitcom.

Full Review Source: AV Club | comment Comment
01/05/07
Keith Phipps
Keith Phipps
AV Club

This is one dull party.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
01/05/07
J. R. Jones
J. R. Jones
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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.

comment Comment
02/09/05
Pablo Villaca
Pablo Villaca
Cinema em Cena

...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.

Full Review Source: TheWorldJournal.com | comment Comment
01/19/05
Frank Ochieng
Frank Ochieng
TheWorldJournal.com

It's low comedy and it's crudely made. But that's no excuse for it being dull.

Full Review Source: Las Vegas Mercury | comment Comment
10/31/04
Anthony Del Valle
Anthony Del Valle
Las Vegas Mercury

Everything else here -- from the gross caricatures to the so-called comic mayhem -- is sour to taste.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
09/19/04
Kimberly Jones
Kimberly Jones
Austin Chronicle

Plenty of action and confusion in this wild story that culminates in a cookout.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Spectrum | comment Comment
09/14/04
Vince Koehler
Vince Koehler
Entertainment Spectrum

Director Lance Rivera raises some legitimate questions about moving up versus selling out and the commodification of professional athletes, but he couldn’t care less about answering them.

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
09/11/04
Brooke Holgerson
Brooke Holgerson
Boston Phoenix

It does provide some true laughs and, incredibly, some real humanity.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment 1 Comment
09/11/04
David Noh
David Noh
Film Journal International

The movie unfolds in the most perfunctory fashion. At least the food looks good.

Full Review Source: Reel.com | comment Comment
09/11/04
Timothy Knight
Timothy Knight
Reel.com

Rippin' and Dippin'

Full Review Source: PopMatters | comment Comment
09/10/04
Cynthia Fuchs
Cynthia Fuchs
PopMatters

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.

Full Review Source: Kalamazoo Gazette | comment Comment
09/09/04
James Sanford
James Sanford
Kalamazoo Gazette

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.

Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly | comment Comment
09/09/04
Chuck Wilson
Chuck Wilson
L.A. Weekly

Todd's payday apparently sends comedy backward in time, and we're in the 1970s, ethno-sitcom style.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
09/09/04
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment Weekly
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

There might have been a decent comedy here if someone had remembered to insert some actual humor.

Full Review Source: New Times | comment Comment
09/09/04
Luke Y. Thompson
Luke Y. Thompson
New Times

A painfully unfunny, would-be comedy.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
09/08/04
Frank Scheck
Frank Scheck
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The few high points hardly add up to enough to keep this barbecue grill from just fizzling out.

Full Review Source: Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC) | comment Comment
09/08/04
Ken Hanke
Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

The pointlessness of The Cookout exudes a modicum of charm, but the simple-minded mess still lacks the wit and moral weight of an episode of Family Matters.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
09/07/04
Akiva Gottlieb
Akiva Gottlieb
Village Voice
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Proceeds at a rambling pace without developing much in the way of comic momentum or scoring many laugh-out-loud high points.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
09/07/04
Joe Leydon
Joe Leydon
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
all

Latest News for The Cookout

January 12, 2006: Critical Consensus: A Regal "Holiday," A Well-Trodden "Road," A Tepid "Tristan"
This week at the movies brings us films about a risk-averse woman cutting loose ("Last Holiday"), a groundbreaking underdog basketball team ("Glory Road"),... More...

See All

More DVDs

Close
Top Rentals
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
66% 66% Public Enemies
83% 83% Harry Potter and the H…
44% 44% Night at the Museum: B…
75% 75% Julie & Julia
32% 32% Terminator Salvation

More Rentals…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
88% 88% Inglourious Basterds
78% 78% The Hangover
49% 49% Taking Woodstock
26% 26% The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard
47% 47% The Girl From Monaco

More New Releases…

RT On Current TV

DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196

What’s Hot On RT

James Cameron

James Cameron

We look at the Avatar director's career

Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland

Check out the brand new trailer now!

SAG Awards

SAG Awards

Find out who got nominated!

Nominee Gallery

Nominee Gallery

See who got nominated for Golden Globes!

Other News

Close
  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • Bryan Singer Returning to X-Men for First Class Source: Superhero Hype
64
  • Mark Strong Talks Kick-Ass, John Carter, and Robin Hood Source: Collider.com
1
  • How Avatar Happened: The Path to Innovation Source: CinemaBlend.com
19
  • Rob Marshall Says Pirates 4 Is Still a Maybe Source: ComingSoon.net
30
  • ET Teases Iron Man 2 Teaser Source: Collider.com
28
  • Tobey Maguire Refutes Hobbit Rumors Source: Hollywood Reporter
9
  • Prince of Persia Featurette Posted Source: Yahoo! Movies
4
  • Trailer Bulletin: Robin Hood Source: ComingSoon.net
61
  • Mel Gibson Plans a Mexican Vacation Source: Variety
8
  • New Iron Man 2 Clue Posted Source: Screen Rant
26
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Tomatometer Watch: Will Avatar Live Up To The Hype?
237
  • Awards Tour 2009: Golden Globe Noms Here!
143
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: Girlpower Rules Again with Princess at #1
70
  • Total Recall: James Cameron Movies
66
  • Awards Tour 2009: Inglourious Basterds Lead Critics Choice Noms
44
  • Awards Tour 2009: Avatar Best Picture at NYFCO!
38
  • Weekly Ketchup: James Cameron Plans a Fantastic Voyage
33
  • The Effects of Where the Wild Things Are
30
  • Awards Tour 2009: SAG Nominations Are In!
27
  • Friday Harvest: Iron Man 2, Tron Legacy, and more!
20
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • Robert Downey Jr. talks Sherlock Holmes & Iron Man 2 - RT Interview
21
  • Director Ruben Fleischer Talks Zombieland
2
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
17
  • Eric Bana talks Love the Beast - RT Interview
12
  • Fight Club Sound Designer Reflects on Film's 10th Anniversary
23
  • James Schamus talks Taking Woodstock - RT Interview
8
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
15
  • Terry Gilliam Talks Doctor Parnassus
24
  • Wes Anderson Talks Fantastic Mr. Fox - RT Interview
9
  • Wolverine Creator Len Wein Talks About the Film
28
 
 

Sponsored Links

Around The Network

  • The Cookout at Rotten Tomatoes
  • The Cookout at AskMen

Fresh Links

Featured
MSN's Year in Review
MSN's Year in Review External Link

Take a look at MSN's choices for the Top 10 films of 2009.

40 Best Films of the 2000s
40 Best Films of the 2000s External Link

Last week, Moviefone offered us their worst films of the 2000s. Now see their 40 best!

Tarantino's Characters
Tarantino's Characters External Link

Hollywood.com explores why QT's characters resonate so well with audiences.

Top 10 Movies of 2009
Top 10 Movies of 2009 External Link

TIME chimes in with their own list of the best films released this year.

Top 20 of the Decade
Top 20 of the Decade External Link

Click through to see which movies BuzzSugar placed in their Best-of-Decade list!

Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Follow RT on Twitter External Link

Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Games| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive | Green Pixels


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.