Reviewed by EWAN McDONALD
Herald rating: * *
Peter Sanderson is an LA tax lawyer in an upmarket neighbourhood who takes to the internet where he meets Charlene Morton in a chat room.
She turns out to be a foul-mouthed black ex-criminal who believes she was wrongly convicted and wants him to take
her case. When he baulks, she stalks him, harasses him, breaks into his house, embarrasses him at his club, and finally takes him out on the town where ... oh, yeah, she breaks through and makes a connection.
Yes, he takes her case, much to the chagrin of his colleague, Howie (Eugene Levy), who is trying to pick her up, much to the chagrin of Charlene, because Peter would rather get back with his ex-wife (Jean Smart).
Well, that's the set-up, and a couple of comics like Steve Martin and Queen Latifah ought to be able to pull it off. Except there's too much reliance on the sort of gags that Martin trademarked in his early movies. There's also precious little for the Queen to work with in a leaden script that lowers itself to cheap slurs of a racial nature.
DVD features: movie (105min); commentary by director Adam Shankman and writer Jason Filardi; gag reel; 7 deleted scenes; 2 features; trailers; Better Than the Rest music video by Queen Latifah.
