Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son

Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	John Whitesell
Screenplay by	Matthew Fogel
Story by	Matthew Fogel Don Rhymer
Produced by	David T. Friendly
Starring	Martin Lawrence Brandon T. Jackson
Cinematography	Anthony B. Richmond
Edited by	Priscilla Nedd-Friendly
Music by	David Newman
Production companies	Regency Enterprises Friendly Films Productions
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	February 18, 2011 (2011-02-18)
Running time	107 minutes
Country	Template:Film US
Language	English
Budget	$32 million
Box office	$61,224,000

Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son (also known as Big Momma's House 3) is a 2011 crime comedy film directed by John Whitesell and written by Matthew Fogel and Don Rhymer. The film is the second sequel to Big Momma's House (2000) and stars Martin Lawrence reprising his role as FBI agent Malcolm Turner. Jascha Washington declined to reprise his role as Trent Pierce from the first two films, and Brandon T. Jackson replaced him for his role. It was released on 18 February 2011. This is the first Big Momma film to be presented in 2.35:1 widescreen.

The film is intended to reboot the series with a new leading character as well as appealing to a teenage audience as opposed to the first film's more mature target audience, although the previous film Big Momma's House 2 was more family-oriented.

Plot

FBI agent Malcolm Turner (Martin Lawrence) has been going undercover as "Big Momma" for almost a decade. His teenage stepson Trent Pierce (Brandon T. Jackson) has just graduated from high school and is accepted into Duke University. He prefers to pass on college and pursue a music career as a rapper named "Prodi-G". With Sherry is away on vacation with Malcolm and his baby, Trent tries to get Malcolm to sign a contract for him, but Malcolm refuses as he believes that Trent should get an education. Persistent to get the signature, Trent follows Malcolm while he is working on a case and witnesses a murder by Russian gangster, Chirkoff. To keep Trent safe and from getting killed by Chirkoff, Malcolm goes undercover as Big Momma for the third time. Trent joins him, going undercover as Big Momma's great niece Charmaine Daisy Pierce at a performing arts school for girls. Trent tries to develop a romance with one of the girls as himself while "Big Momma" is being pursued by the school's goofball Marine Kurtis Kool (Faizon Love) who has a fascination with big women.

Malcolm is searching for a flash drive with evidence incriminating Chirkoff on it. He deduces that it is hidden in a music box that has been stolen from the library. Trent blows his cover by going on a date (as himself) with Haley on which he is spotted by his friends, who alert Chirkoff because he has presented himself to them as a record producer. Chirkoff's henchmen trail Trent but think they've lost him when he changes into Charmaine. And as Trent "didn't" turn up at the big showcase, "Charmaine" helps Haley with the song and from being stressed from hiding, Trent blows his cover by not being able to sing like "Charmaine", and then it ends with the three (Malcolm, Trent and Haley) are on the run from Chirkoff in which they finally get caught and as they are about to be shot, Kurtis shoots Chirkoff with a stun gun. Chirkoff was arrested as were his henchmen, and Malcolm and Trent return home. The flim ends with the music video of Trent/Prodi-G singing his song lyrical Miracle with Malcolm appearing as Big Momma.

Cast

• Martin Lawrence as Malcolm Turner/Hattie Mae 'Big Momma' Pierce. In order to protect Trent who has witnessed a murder, they go to an all-girls school posing as "Big Momma" and her great niece "Charmaine". "Big Momma" works as a den mother while "Charmaine" is a student. His wife and Trent's mom, Sherry, is absent in this film as she is away on vacation. Compared to the previous films, Malcolm's role is slightly smaller as Trent is more of the main character.
• Brandon T. Jackson as Trent Pierce/Charmaine Daisy Pierce. Compared to his roles in the previous films, Trent has the main role of the film. Trent is Malcolm's 17-year-old stepson. Along with Malcolm, he goes undercover as Big Momma's great niece. Charmaine also appears in the music video "Imma Do It Big" singing (actually Brandon T. Jackson).
• Jessica Lucas as Haley, Trent's love interest. An insecure girl who is a great singer and songwriter who befriends "Charmaine".
• Faizon Love as Kurtis Kool, the school's overweight, goofy janitor who has a fondness for fat women.
• Tony Curran as Chirkoff. A Russian gangster who Trent witnesses murder someone. He and this thugs are out to kill Trent to prevent him from exposing them.

• Portia Doubleday as Jasmine. An arrogant girl who is the leader of a school clique called "The Divas".
• Ana Ortiz as Gail, the school's principal
• Sherri Shepherd as Beverly Townsend. A den mother who quits because she was being harassed by the students
• Ken Jeong as Mailman (cameo)
• Susan Griffths as Cafeteria Girl #1(cameo)

Production

New Regency Productions spent $32 million to make the film, less than previous films in the series. They were able to reduce costs because Lawrence agreed to take a pay cut and thanks to tax incentives in Georgia.

Release

The film was open to theaters on 18 February 2011. Although in the UK Advance Cinema screenings were shown on 16 February 2010.

The film was not screened in advance for critics.

Reception

Critical response

Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son has received overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 6% based on 50 reviews, with an average rating of 2.6 out of 10. The consensus is: "Unnecessary, unfunny, and generally unwelcome, Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son offers more of the same for fans of Martin Lawrence's perplexingly popular series."
Metacritic gives the film a "generally unfavorable" rating of 22% based on reviews from 14 critics.

Mike Hale of The New York Times notes strong similarities to Some Like It Hot and describes Faizon Love's performance as the only honestly funny thing in the whole film.

Box office

The film was released in North America on 18 February 2011, ranking 5 that weekend, with a gross of $16,300,803 from 2,821 theaters. As of 3 March 2011, Big Mommas has grossed $36,424,000 in the US, and $24,800,000 elsewhere, for a worldwide total of $61,224,000.

While much lower than the previous films (which both grossed over 100 million), Big Mommas has been a modest box office success.

Music Videos

A music video titled "Imma Do It Big" was released on 9 February 2011. The song is by Brandon T. Jackson and features One Chance & T-Pain. The song starts off with a verse by Jackson and then a verse from T-Pain then another verse by Jackson but this verse is rapped by his alterego, Charmaine from the movie. Another Song called 'Lyrical Mircale' by Brandon T. Jackson as he goes by the name of Trent's rapper named Prodi-G and also features Martin Lawrence as his alter-ego, Big Momma, with other characters from the movie.

External links

• Official website
• Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son at IMDb