Big Momma's House

Big Momma's House is a 2000 American crime comedy film, directed by Raja Gosnell, and written by Darryl Quarles and Don Rhymer. The film stars Martin Lawrence as an FBI agent who is tasked with tracking down an escaped convict and his loot, by going undercover as the estranged grandmother of his former girlfriend, unaware of the bond he will form with her. The film also stars Nia Long, Paul Giamatti, and Terrence Howard.

Big Momma's House
An overweight woman in a red dress, carrying a big brown bag, and fixing her dress while walking towards a house.
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRaja Gosnell
Screenplay by
Story byDarryl Quarles
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyMichael D. O'Shea
Edited by
Music byRichard Gibbs
Production
companies
Distributed by20th Century Fox[1]
Release date
  • June 2, 2000 (2000-06-02)
Running time
99 minutes[1]
Countries
  • United States[1]
  • Poland
  • Germany[1]
LanguageEnglish
Budget$30 million[3]
Box office$174 million[3]

Big Momma's House received negative reviews from critics, but grossed over $174 million worldwide. Its success led to two sequels: Big Momma's House 2 (2006) and Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son (2011).

Plot

Two undercover FBI agents, Malcolm Turner and John Maxwell, find themselves assigned by their boss to track down the escaped convict, Lester Vesco, who was serving a life sentence for murder and the armed robbery of a bank. Malcolm and John learn that Lester may be seeking to find his ex-girlfriend, Sherry Pierce, an employee of the bank who is suspected of supplying him with a key to the vault, as the money that was stolen was never recovered.

Malcolm and John stake out the house of Sherry's estranged grandmother, Hattie Mae Pierce—an obese, elderly African American woman, whom her friends affectionately call Big Momma—in Cartersville, Georgia. They soon find out she is about to leave town for two weeks to care for her ill friend at the hospital. Malcolm takes the advantage by disguising himself as Big Momma to bring Sherry to her house to get her confession to her involvement in the robbery. To maintain his disguise as Big Momma, Malcolm must maintain the real Big Momma's lifestyle. This includes dealing with her lecherous boyfriend, assuming her occupation as a midwife, and attending self-defense classes led by dim-witted security guard Nolan, whom the agents are later forced to recruit when he stumbles onto their operation.

During this time, Malcolm bonds with Sherry and her ten-year-old son, Trent, both in disguise and as himself—posing as Big Momma's handyman. He finds nothing to link her to the robbery, nor to the missing money's location. After attending a church service with them, where he compels Sherry in his disguise to not hold any secrets, Malcolm finds the missing money in Trent's footlocker. This happens after returning home to a surprise birthday party for the real Big Momma. His discovery is witnessed by Sherry, who tells him she had no idea what Lester was planning, and did not report her key was stolen out of fear of being fired.

Matters soon become complicated when John discovers that the real Big Momma has returned home. In his efforts to stop her re-entering the house, John instructs Nolan to lock her out, only for the dim-witted guard to accidentally lock Malcolm out. Lester tracks Sherry down to Big Momma's house and later puts her in danger. Malcolm swiftly breaks into the house, whereupon he tackles Lester and subdues him after John is shot, but at the cost of his disguise being dropped in front of everyone, including Sherry and Trent. After Lester is arrested and the money recovered, Malcolm finds that Sherry and Trent refuse to speak to him, heartbroken by his deception.

Seeking forgiveness, Malcolm attends the Sunday morning church service, where he gives a heartfelt speech to Sherry and Trent declaring he genuinely loves them. Big Momma forgives him for his actions, and the church crowd cheers as Malcolm and Sherry kiss, before Big Momma and the choir sing "Oh Happy Day" during the film's closing credits.

Cast
  • Martin Lawrence as Malcolm Turner, an undercover FBI agent posing as Hattie Mae 'Big Momma' Pierce.
  • Nia Long as Sherry Pierce, Hattie Mae Pierce's granddaughter, Lester's ex-girlfriend, Trent's mother as well as Malcolm's suspect-turned-love interest.
  • Jascha Washington as Trent Pierce, Sherry's 10-year-old son.
  • Paul Giamatti as Agent Jonathan "John" Maxwell, Malcolm's rookie undercover partner who is highly intelligent.
  • Terrence Howard as Lester Vesco, Sherry's criminal ex-boyfriend.
  • Anthony Anderson as Nolan, a dim-witted security guard.
  • Ella Mitchell as Hattie Mae 'Big Momma' Pierce, Sherry's long lost Southern grandmother.
  • Phyllis Applegate as Sadie, Big Momma's nosy and jealous neighbor.
  • Starletta DuPois as Miss Patterson, a neighbor and friend of Big Momma.
  • Jessie Mae Holmes as Miss Other Patterson, another friend and neighbor with the same surname as Miss Patterson.
  • Tichina Arnold as Ritha, a pregnant woman and Nolan's younger sister.
  • Octavia Spencer as Twila, Big Momma's neighbor and friend of Ritha and Sherry.
  • Nicole Prescott as Lena, Big Momma's neighbor and friend of Ritha and Sherry
  • Cedric the Entertainer as the Reverend.
  • Carl Wright as Ben Rawley, Big Momma's lecherous boyfriend.
  • Aldis Hodge as teen playing basketball.

Production

The film was set in Georgia but filmed in Southern California in early 2000.[4]

The prosthetic makeup was created by Greg Cannom and Captive Audience. Cannom previously created the makeup for Mrs. Doubtfire and Bicentennial Man.[4]

Music

Main article: Big Momma's House (soundtrack)

A soundtrack containing hip hop music was released on May 30, 2000, by So So Def Records. The film's theme song was "Bounce with Me" by Lil Bow Wow. The soundtrack was also a moderate success and has been certified gold since its release. As well as Lil Bow Wow, the soundtrack featured artists such as Jermaine Dupri, Da Brat, and Black Dave, whose single Go Big Girl can be heard briefly in the film. It peaked at number 41 on the Billboard 200 and number 12 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and spawned two hit singles, "Bounce with Me" and "I've Got to Have It".

Reception

Box office

Big Momma's House was released on June 2, 2000, and became a surprise hit in its opening weekend in North America, making $25.6 million and becoming the second-placed film behind Mission: Impossible 2 at that time.[5] The film itself would later go on to gross over $117 million at the US box office and just under $174 million worldwide.[3][6]

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 30% based on 82 reviews, and an average rating of 4.4/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Big Momma's House is funny in some parts, but it is essentially a one-joke movie."[7] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 33 out of 100 based on 27 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[8] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[9]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times, while admitting to laughing at many of the jokes, also felt there were tasteless moments, thinking it could be "redeemed by comedy", such as the opening toilet sequence.[10] Todd McCarthy of Variety praised Lawrence's "engaging" performance and the old woman makeup, but criticised the film's script.[4][11][12]

The film, and the series as a whole, have been derided as typical of "representations of the big black woman that have appeared in mass marketed comedies" which at the same time devalue the women by casting "male actors wearing Latex fat suits".[13] One review of the third film sarcastically commented that the Big Momma's House series rigidly follows the classic Hollywood trilogy structure.[14] By the third film, the series was derided for its unnecessary rehashing of the cross-dressing gimmick.[14]

Sequels
Main articles: Big Momma's House 2 and Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son

The film spawned two sequels in the Big Momma series: Big Momma's House 2 (2006) and Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son (2011). Both sequels were lighter and more family-friendly than the original story, but saw reduced takings in the box office, and were panned by film critics.

Home media

The film was released on DVD and VHS on November 28, 2000, EVD in 2002 and a Blu-ray edition was released on September 16, 2011.

References
  1. "Big Momma's House (2000)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved December 26, 2018.
  2. "Big Momma's House (2000)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on September 17, 2017. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
  3. "Big Momma's House". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved December 26, 2018.
  4. McCarthy, Todd (June 2, 2000). "Big Momma's House". Variety.
  5. "Martin Lawrence nearly dethrones M: I 2".
  6. Source: Box Office Mojo, last visited April 1, 2011.
  7. "Big Momma's House (2000)". Rotten Tomatoes.
  8. "Big Momma's House Reviews". Metacritic.
  9. "Cinemascore". Archived from the original on December 20, 2018.
  10. Ebert, Roger (June 2, 2000). "Big Momma's House Movie Review (2000)". Chicago Sun-Times.
  11. Foreman, Jonathan (June 2, 2000). "'BIG MOMMA' A DRAG". New York Post.
  12. Morris, Wesley (June 2, 2000). "'Big Momma's House'". SFGate.
  13. Emily Fox-Kales, Body Shots: Hollywood and the Culture of Eating Disorders (2011), p. 154.
  14. Stuart Heritage (November 10, 2010). "Big Momma's House 3: once, twice, three times a fake lady". The Guardian.
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