Man of the House
|
List Price: Our Price: $2.89 You Save: $7.10 (71%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.76 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Man of the House
Movie Review: Tommy Lee Jones versus five University of Texas cheerleaders
Summary: 3 Stars
"Man of the House" is yet another film where the trailer is better than the movie. The trailer for this 2005 comedy gives you the best line of the movie ("This IS my hap-pay face") and the funniest moment (Tommy Lee Jones tackles the Razorback mascot), both of which come relatively early in the film. The trailer also gives you the idea that Cedric the Entertainer is going to be a bigger part of the story than he actually ends up providing and when you do your post mortem on "Man of the House" you can decide if the biggest sin of the screenplay by Robert Ramsey & Matthew (no, I am not Matt) Stone and John J. McLaughlin is that it could not make better use of Cedric's presence or the more fundamental failure to punch up the predictable storyline to take advantage of the inherently humorous juxtaposition of Tommy Lee Jones and a bunch of University of Texas Cheerleaders.
Jones is Roland Sharp, a dedicated and humorless Texas Ranger who has sacrificed his marriage and alienated his daughter because his job is his life. The only thing surprising about Sharp is that his partner on the Rangers is a woman (and one of the best moments in the film is when Sharp talks about what it was like for a dinosaur like him to end up with a female partner). But then a government witness is shot right in from of Sharp and his partner is wounded. Sharp then ends up with the job of babysitting five Texas cheerleaders who saw a murder related to the case (the witness was going to testify against somebody who does not want to be testified against). The cheerleaders are in danger, whether they believe it or not, and Sharp is going to keep them alive. Although he has a pair of younger Rangers with him, they are sent across the street from the house in which the cheerleaders live and Sharp does his job mainly hearing all, seeing all, and being ahead of the game well enough to successfully put his foot down. What chance do five young cheerleaders have against Tommy Lee Jones? Not much, I can tell you that (his way of persuading the girls to wear clothing that exposes less of their bodies is pragmatic, but expensive).
The five cheerleaders are played by Vanessa Ferlito, Paula Garcés, Kelli Garner, Monic Keena, and Christian Millan. The names of the cheerleaders are Anne, Barb, Evie, Heather, and Teresa. The order of the names of the actresses and the characters are provided in alphabetical order, which means they do not match up, but then these are not really fully developed characters (just fully developed cheerleaders) so getting them confused does not matter much. You can distinguish them on the basis of hair or skin color more than you can their shallow personalities (e.g., one has phone sex with her boyfriend while another thinks Sharp is cute). When the girls find out that Sharp is estranged from his teenage daughter, this matters more to them than the fact someone is trying to kill them and Sharp is curtailing their liberties. Of course, they are going to do something about that, and, of course, that is going to put them in a position to be killed.
Although people do get killed in this movie, the threat is not really serious, so when the cheerleaders put themselves in harms way it is supposed to be comic. Sharp is given a love interest in the form of Anne Archer as Professor Molly McCarthy, which sets up a cute scene where the girls talk Sharp through a date using his ear piece that unfortunately reduces Archer to a piece of furniture. Cedric the Entertainer is Percy Stevens, an ex-con turned preacher, who shows up periodically to provide uninspired comic relief. The fact that he ends up not being integral to the story distracted me a bit because I was not certain why he was in the film at all if they were not going to give him anything substantive to do.
Apparently "Man of the House" was originally entitled "Cheer Up," and there is a story that they did not come up with the ending until a month after the rest of the movie was shot, all of which speaks to how appealing it is to throw Tommy Lee Jones in with a bunch of cheerleaders and let him thaw out just a bit so that he can show more emotional depth than irritation. Actually, you can argue that the best rapport between characters in the movie are those scenes pairing Jones with R. Lee Ermey as Captain Nichols, which certainly makes for a nice pair of old school stone faces where a blank stare is as good as a raised eyebrow. But while it was never the goal to make anything more than a piece of fluff, they still should have been able to come up with a script that would have made this more of an entertaining piece of fluff.
Movie Review: Serious Tommy Lee Jones and Five Bubbly Cheerleaders: Just OK Fluffy Comedy
Summary: 3 Stars
One dead serious Texas Ranger played by Tommy Lee Jones must protect the five witnesses for the prosecution. And the five witnesses happen to be unruly and bubbly cheerleaders of the Texas University. The story sounds thin and weak, and actually it is much weaker than that of Whoopie Goldberg's hit movie `Sister Act,' but thanks to the dead-pan humor of Tommy Lee Jones, `Man of the House' manages to be an OK entertainment.
From the not-so-great opening including one now stale `cow humiliation' gag, you know the film itself does not take itself seriously. The blend of actions and comedy does not go well, especially when we see embarrassed Cedric the Entertainer holding a very, very dirty cell phone in his hand, and some cardboard characters getting killed in the alley.
The film gets better when it introduces the five cheerleaders. The dialogues exchanged between Tommy Lee Jones' Texas Ranger and the cheerleaders (who just want to have fun even after witnessing killing!) are not particularly witty, some based on the typical wrong idea that cheerleaders are not bright, but still work with Tommy Lee Jones' comic acting that could be seen in `Men in Black.' Actually, you mighty see no difference in two roles, one Roland Sharp Texas Ranger of this film and Agent K in `MIB.' I rememered Robert DeNiro who is virtually doing the same dead-serious comic turn since `Analyze This.'
The cheerleaders you see here are intentionally stereotyped ones, so don't expect that Monica Keena, Kelli Garner, Christina Millian, Paula Garces, and Vanessa Ferlito do real cheerleading. They are there as eye-candy, and though one of them seems to adore Tommy Lee's character, the director seems to have chosen to just drop the theme. After all, when Tommy Lee Jones meets them, and another elder female character, professor of literature played Ann Archer, the film has nothing to do except for showing funny bits of comedy (like those of TV sitcoms) about the clashing egos between the man and the girls, which are certainly enjoyable to see, and some obligatory set-pieces that keeps the story moving, which ends with a predictable conclusion.
The director is Stephen Herek, whose CV includes `The Might Ducks' Charlie Sheen's `The Three Musketeers' `Holy Man' and `Rock Star.' And don't forget `Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.' If you have seen any of these fairly entertaining, but otherwise undistinguished films, you know what you will see in `Man of the House.' Take it for what it is, and enjoy it.
Movie Review: Tommy Lee Jones Tames Some Texas Cheerleaders
Summary: 3 Stars
Man of the House is a comedy/action film starring Tommy Lee Jones in the main role as a Texas Ranger who is trying to solve a murder case. To assist him in solving the case, Jones rounds up a group of five Texas Longhorn Cheerleaders- the only people who are known to have witnessed the murder. To protect these witnesses from the general public, Jones moves in with them and lives at their campus residence.
Most of the comedy part of this film is supplied by the interaction between Jones and the cheerleaders. He has nothing in common with these young women and he is annoyed by many things they do. But he also knows they are witnesses to a crime he is determined to solve, so he tolerates their differences.
The action part of this movie comes when Jones is searching for the person who committed this crime. There is some blood and gore in this film, but it is kept under control enough to avoid receiving an "R" rating. These parts of the film provide some good contrast to the humor, but it also adds to the movie's instability, if you will. You never know what direction the film is going to take or whether or not it's a comedy or a drama.
I like Tommy Lee Jones, but I think his performance in this movie is rather tired and uninspired. Anne Archer is good, but her role is minimal. The women who play the cheerleaders are ok, but nothing special and their roles could have easily been played by other actresses with equal effectiveness. Speaking of the cheerleaders, they are very stereotypical and this could bother some viewers. There is a cheerleader to represent different races and they are generally not very bright- typical of what you find in this type of movie. They don't play much of a role in the movie either, except (apparently) to give men something to look at.
There are some flaws in this movie, but I still liked it well enough to recommend it. The film has some fun moments and Tommy Lee Jones, while not at his best, is good enough to make the movie memorable.
Movie Review: This Is My Happy Face
Summary: 3 Stars
How can you possibly go wrong pairing up Tommy Lee Jones with five hot cheerleaders? Luckily Man of the House doesn't disappoint. Granted, it won't win any awards, but it does a good job as a time suck with its standard fish out of water story and count them, five token hot chicks.
The story follows Tommy Lee Jones as a Texas Ranger, not the kind that would know Derek Jeter as some of the girls think, who is protecting a group of cheerleaders from the University of Texas who have witnessed a murder that is linked to a high powered businessman. The ladies he is protecting include the token hot chick from Undeclared as the brainy one with social anxieties, Vanessa Ferlito, who is on one of the CSI's, Omaha maybe, plays the tough as nails one but has all the deep thoughts not too mention the only one who could master the Texas accent, Paula Garces, who surprisingly is on the wrong side of thirty playing a college student, and Chistina Milian, best know for her singing career, well actually not really, both play the fiery Latina chick, not sure why they didn't just combine the characters. The standout of the cheerleaders though was Kelli Garner as the boy, and man, crazy dumb blonde, who brought depth and heart to what could have been just your routine Jessica or Paris caricature. Rounding out the cast was Cedric the Entertainer who's talents were somewhat wasted as the ex-con turned preacher.
Most of the movie is pretty predictable with the girls helping Jones character get in touch with his feminine side including the prerequisite makeover montage. And it's a given that they would help him out with his girl troubles including his estranged daughter and the professor of one of the girls. The movie may not be as good as the other cheerleader movie, Bring It On but Man of the House is worth a rental at the very least.
Movie Review: Good not great!
Summary: 3 Stars
Having been a student at the University of Texas some years ago, I was more interested in how students would be portrayed in this film.
The "UT cheerleaders" were made to look as if they were inept and stupid. Their parts in the film reminded me of those "blond" jokes.
The movie is supposed to be a comedy. It did have some funny moments. I enjoy watchng Tommy Lee Jones in any genre of movie though. He is a very good actor. It was great to see him wearing a "TEXAS" shirt. Go Horns!!!
The Longhorn Band was great to listen to as well even though their appearance was brief.
Over-all, this movie gets a "C"