Director
Ted Demme (Jonathan's nephew) follows his terrific crime-thriller Monument Ave.
with this sporadically entertaining Eddie Murphy-Martin Lawrence vehicle, that
takes a light-hearted look at Mississippi prison life spanning many decades.
Murphy
plays a pick-pocket who crosses paths with the straight-laced Lawrence. The two
become unlikely friends when they are framed for murder and forced to serve a
life sentence.
Life
tries to be a sort of Grumpy Old Men in Shawshank. Thankfully, it's better than
the Jack Lemmon-Walter Matthau flick, but doesn't come close to the power of Shawshank,
nor does it try. Instead, Demme just tries to give the audience a good time and
for the most part, the film is surprisingly watchable.
Murphy
delivers most of the jokes, but Lawrence actually steals the film with a very
subtle and restrained performance. There are some great supporting performances
from Bernie Mac, Ned Beatty, and R. Lee Ermey.
If
Life has a downside, it's a screenplay too full of holes. The long term friendship
that forms between Murphy and Lawrence is not completely apparent. It's as if
chunks of the storyline are missing. Still, it's a good time with some fun dialogue,
a breezy running time, and some great make-up from Academy Award winner Rick Baker.
