Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins (113 mins, 12A)
Directed by Malcolm D Lee; starring Martin Lawrence, James Earl Jones, Joy Bryant, Louis CK, Cedric the Entertainer
Malcolm D Lee's Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins, a heavy-handed comedy with an all-black cast, also involves a big city sophisticate reluctantly sojourning in the sticks. Here, Roscoe Jenkins (Martin Lawrence), a successful TV host, part Jerry Springer, part Dr Phil, is compelled to attend the 50th wedding anniversary of his parents in rural Georgia, accompanied by his socially ambitious fiancée.
It's his first visit for nine years and, as usual, he's patronised by his overbearing father (the admirable James Earl Jones, whose forte has never been comedy), mocked by his obese sister and gigantic brother and humiliated by his competitive cousin (Cedric the Entertainer). His fiancée is also sneered at for her slim figure, vegetarianism, good grammar and desire to make her way in Mr Charlie's world. It's an odd film to come out of Hollywood in a year that might see an African-American run for President with a strong chance of election.