Big Momma's House 2

Well come on, what do you expect? I imagine that if you find yourself in the theater watching this movie then you are either:

a). someone who likes dudes in fat woman drag
b). a huge Martin Lawrence fan with undying loyalty and devotion
c). sacrificing yourself for the good of mankind (me)

FBI agent Malcolm Turner (Martin Lawrence) has married Sherry (Nia Long) from the first movie, and in typical fashion she has demanded that he give up his Porsche and dangerous field work in favor of a minivan and a desk job. Malcolm dutifully complies, and the FBI sends him out on a vital mission that is crucial to our domestic security: teaching children about safety while dressed in an eagle costume. He's not completely happy about his new job, but with a baby on the way he's willing to sacrifice his professional goals. Nevertheless, nefarious schemes are still afoot, and Malcolm's former mentor is shot and killed while undercover. As is customary for the FBI apparently, Malcolm's boss orders him to keep his nose out of the investigation even though he is by far their best field agent. Not to be deterred, however, Malcolm quickly discovers that the main suspect in the case is business executive Tom Fuller (Mark Moses), so he decides to go undercover as Fuller's nanny, unbeknownst to his superiors at the FBI or Sherry. And what identity should he choose but that of Big Momma! On comes the fat suit and the hilarity!*

Big Momma/Malcolm is unfortunately not prepared for all the housework and shuttling of children that is required for his cover to work, so he has to come up with clever ideas in order to trick Mrs. Fuller (Emily Procter) into thinking that he has completed the nanny's daily responsibilities. He isn't sure how to fix breakfast for the kids, but, thinking fast and on the fly, he pulls a MacGyver and pours the milk directly into the cereal box! Similarly, rather than waste time trying to decipher the complex instructions on the washing machine (pour soap, press start), he improvises and throws the family's clothes away. Haha, Mrs. Fuller will never notice! Pure comedy. Next he sets to work fixing the family's problems--little Carrie Fuller isn't a good cheerleader, so he teaches her some moves. Andrew Fuller eats brillo pads and flings himself off high kitchen appliances, so Big Momma just calls him "two kinds of crazy" and moves on. Having nearly forgotten about his actual mission up to this point, he snoops around the house for a bit and copies some random files on the Fuller's home computer. All in a day's work, really.

This movie actually wasn't horrible, and I did find myself smiling here and there. Martin Lawrence himself is just an all-around entertaining and funny guy, so even in the context of this movie he was still relatively fun to watch. The Big Momma character was harmless enough, and provided a mild source of general pleasantness, but as a whole this movie was pretty uninspiring. Granted, Big Momma's House 2 certainly isn't meant to be anything other than a silly little comedy, but I don't think it's worth a $10 trip to the theaters unless you are into this sort of throwaway humor. Besides, there is probably a Big Momma's House 3 in the works, as Malcolm outright threatens the audience with another sequel at the end. He warns to keep a lookout, because you never know when Big Momma will return--so you know, stay on the edge of your seats.

*film is not hilarious