Rating of
2/4
Not as funny as one would think
The M.O.W. - wrote on 08/03/08
"Jake" (Cedric the Entertainer) is having one of the weirdest days in his life. He wakes up in a hotel room, discovers a briefcase with $250,000 (US) and a dead man laying on the bed next to him who is carrying FBI credentials. As he is looking in the room's bathroom mirror trying to not only figure out who he is, he tries to figure out why there is a dead FBI agent in the room with him.
As he tries to slip out of the hotel, he bumps into a beautiful blond woman (Nicolette Sheridan) who helps him. While making their getaway, she tells him that she is his wife and is named "Diane" and takes him to what she claims is their home -- a mansion complete with a butler (Robert Clarke). She calls a doctor (Kevin McNulty), who determines "Jake" is suffering from amnesia.
It is obvious the woman wants something "Jake" knows, and tries to seduce it out of him. However, flashes of something he believes is from his past makes him leave the house and head to a computer chip manufacture.
While sitting in a diner across the street from this computer chip place, a waitress named "Gina" (Lucy Liu) of the diner claims to be his girlfriend and tells him that he is a janitor at the business he thinks he is an executive of. This claim is pretty much confirmed when a couple of janitors come into the diner and sits down to talk with him.
"Gina" then agrees to help him regain his memory and takes his home. Eventually, he learns that he's more than just a janitor, and knows something about a computer chip that may just be vital to national security.
Despite Cedric the Entertainer being part of this movie in the leading man role, this is not even close to a comedy. There are very few chuckles, but nothing more. This is more an adventure more than a comedy. A lot of comedic moments center around "Jake" remembering something about what he thinks is his past that turns out to be something totally different. Some of his reactions as he slowly learns the truth are barely chuckle worthy.
There are some good performances in this movie, but there is barely enough character development with many of the characters, especially central figures trying to capture "Jake".
There is some good performances in this movie. Liu and Cedric make a fair on-screen duo, but they have just a little chemistry. One I wish had a bigger role, which could have helped the plot a bit, was Mark Dacascos (who is probably best known for his role as "The Chairman" on the Food Network's cooking competition show "Iron Chef America"). Dacascos is pretty good as a villain, but he is not on screen long enough for him to expand the character. He does get to show his martial arts skills, which we catch a glimpse of on "Iron Chef America's" opening and an occasional profile of his "Chairman" character. Out of the entire cast, Liu and Cedric's characters are probably the best developed, even if they only had fair on-screen chemistry.
The action scenes are not that great either. In fact, they are pretty average. We get some gunplay, and some fist fights with some martial arts thrown in, but nothing spectacular. We don't even get our leads in a scenario where they are captured and put in danger by the villains.
The soundtrack is not really memorable either. There are some hip hop tunes, but since I listen to Pop and Classic Rock, I didn't recognize the performers.
The movie is still pretty watchable, but lower your expectations if you saw the promos for this movie on TV, another DVD or online. Check this one out on HBO when nothing else is on.
