Bringing Down the House (2003)

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Director:

Adam Shankman

Writer (WGA):

Jason Filardi (written by)

Release Date:

7 March 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Everything he needed to know about life, she learned in prison.

Plot:

When a lonely guy meets a woman on the Internet who happens to be in prison, she breaks out to be with him, and proceeds to wreak havoc on his middle-class life.

Plot Keywords:

Lawyer | Divorce | Ex Wife | Catfight | Dating Service

Awards:

3 wins & 13 nominations

Cast

Steve Martin	...	Peter Sanderson
Queen Latifah	...	Charlene Morton
Eugene Levy	...	Howie Rottman
Joan Plowright	...	Virginia Arness
Jean Smart	...	Kate Sanderson
Kimberly J. Brown	...	Sarah Sanderson
Angus T. Jones	...	Georgey Sanderson
Missi Pyle	...	Ashley
Michael Rosenbaum	...	Todd Gendler
Betty White	...	Mrs. Kline
Steve Harris	...	Widow
Jim Haynie	...	Ed Tobias
Aengus James	...	Mike
Jernard Burks	...	Widow's Bodyguard
Bronzell Miller	...	Widow's Bodyguard

Also Known As:

In the Houze (USA) (working title)
JailBabes.com (USA) (working title)
Haus über Kopf - Betreten auf eigene Gefahr (Austria) (Germany) [de]
A Casa Caiu (Brazil) [pt]
Basimin belasi (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Bringing down the house - elämä on laiffii (Finland) [fi]
Bronx à Bel Air (France) [fr]
Haus über Kopf (Germany) [de]
Meest sõnast, naine jutukast (Estonia) [et]
Remue-ménage (Canada: French title) [fr]
Se armó la gorda (Spain) [es]
Se montó la gorda (Spain) [es]
To spiti... tis Trelis! (Greece) [el]
Un ciclone in casa (Italy) [it]
Una intrusa en la familia (Argentina) [es]

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for language, sexual humor and drug material.

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:L | Malaysia:U | UK:12 (video rating) | UK:12A (original rating) | South Korea:15 | Argentina:Atp | Australia:M | Brazil:14 | Canada:PG | Finland:K-11 | Germany:6 | Netherlands:MG6 | New Zealand:M | Norway:11 | Peru:PT | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | Spain:T | Sweden:7 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Zurich) | USA:PG-13 (certificate #39572)

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Touchstone Pictures

Trivia:

Jason Filardi's original screenplay was entitled "Jailbabe.com". He had Adam Sandler and Angelina Jolie in mind when he first wrote it.

Goofs:

Factual errors: When Charlene uses the speed dial on Peter's cell phone, you can hear the tones as a number is being dialed. You can't hear the tones for the numbers if you do that in real life.

Quotes:

Peter Sanderson: You are such an ass...
[drinks water]
Peter Sanderson: ... set to this company.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Queen Latifah/Ms. Dynamite (#28.14)" (2003)

Soundtrack:

Fourth Floor Ladies Shoes

Very Funny and Very Enjoyable

Bringing Down the House is a very funny movie and your bound to have a good time. Peter Sanderson (Steve Martin) is a lawyer who is having trouble getting his life back on track after his wife, Kate ( Jean Smart), divorces him; he's also adjusting to his new status as a single father. Peter tries an internet dating site and virtually meets "lawyer-girl," an attractive and single fellow attorney. Peter makes a date with her, but the woman who arrives at his door turns out to be Charlene Morton (Queen Latifah), who not only isn't a lawyer, she turns out to be an escaped convict. Charlene explains to Peter that she's strung him along because she's innocent of the crime for which she was convicted, and she needs a top-notch attorney to help prove her case. After some persuasion, Peter agrees to help Charlene out. Though the plot sounds stupid, the execution turned out to be really funny. The story is a little weak though and they could have worked a little more on that. The movie isn't very realistic so you shouldn't go in expecting one. The cast is great and they make this somewhat old material funny. The funniest person is Eugene Levy and he is finally getting the recognition he deserves. Steve Martin returns for his first wide release film in four years. He doesn't disappoint and gives a very funny performance. Queen Latifah is also funny, but she also starts getting annoying by the end of the movie. Jean Smart plays the ex wife of Peter and she's pretty good. The rest of the supporting cast includes Kimberly J. Brown, Joan Plowright, Betty White and Missi Pyle. Adam Shankman directs and this is a large improvement over A Walk to Remember. The racist jokes in the film are a little outdated and sometimes this film does go over the top. I still laughed though as some of the dialog in this film is very funny. While this isn't he funniest film of 2003, its still worth watching. Its 105 minutes long and it starts getting a little boring since they add some unnecessary things. Another good thing about this film is that they didn't use all the jokes in the preview. In the end, this film is worth watching even if its not very memorable. Rating 7.4/10, a funny comedy that's worth checking out.