Bringing Down the House (2003)
Directed by Adam Shankman
Uptight lawyer Peter Sanderson wants to dive back into dating after his divorce and has a hard time meeting the right women. He tries online dating and lucks out when he starts chatting with a fellow lawyer. The two agree to meet in the flesh, but the woman he meets — an escaped African-American convict named Charlene — is not what he expected. Peter is freaked out, but Charlene tries to convince him to take her case and prove her innocence. Along the way, she wreaks havoc on his middle-class life as he gets a lesson in learning to lighten up.
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What critics compared Bringing Down the House to
This uninspired bit of silliness begins like “You’ve Got Mail,” with ladder-climbing attorney Peter Sanderson (Martin) chatting online with “Lawyergirl” (Latifah), who finally says she’s coming to visit.
The plot centers on Peter Sanderson (Martin), the recently divorced tax attorney who, shades of “You’ve Got Mail,” has an Internet chat room romance brewing with “lawyer-girl.”
After its "You've Got Mail" beginning, director Adam Shankman ("A Walk to Remember") wastes no time establishing Peter as the type of guy who lost his wife Kate (Jean Smart, "Sweet Home Alabama") to his incessant cell phone and who constantly reneges on promises to the kids.
And while The Pacifier isn't even remotely as engaging and enjoyable as something like Kindergarten Cop, there's no denying that the film is breezy enough and wacky enough to warrant a very mild recommendation.
It’s certainly not as racist as Queen Latifah funking up Steve Martin in “Bringing Down the House,” or Michael Oher becoming the shallow supporting character in his own story in “The Blind Side.”
As written by Jason Filardi (2003's " Bringing Down the House ") and directed by Burr Steers (who impressed with his 2002 feature debut, " Igby Goes Down "), the picture is all over the map, a heartrending drama about divorce, a morality tale about severed ties between a father and his children, a slapstick farce full of gags involving light-saber battles and "Lord of the Rings" fanaticism, and a thoroughly disposable teen flick all rolled into one.
Screenwriter Jason Filardi ("Bringing Down the House") probably watched "It's A Wonderful Life," "Peggy Sue Got Married," "Back to the Future," "Big," "Heaven Can Wait" and "Freaky Friday" to get ideas for the story.
Writer Jason Filardi ("Bringing Down the House") follows the genre checklist - an unassuming magical agent (high school janitor Brian Doyle-Murray), a sidekick best friend who's in on the switcheroo, uncomfortable dating situations involving the subject's children - and tries to maintain an internal logic, not always successfully, but director Burr Steers proved agile at directing a quirky ensemble with "Igby Goes Down" and has done it again here.