The
Man of the House is Texas Ranger Roland Sharp (Tommy Lee Jones) as a gruff take-no-prisoners
kind of guy who always gets the job done - now matter what. And, not unlike Vin
Diesel's character in the Pacifier, he is about to face the most challenging assignment
of his career. It seems that a group of high school cheerleaders are the only
witnesses to a murder of a key figure involved in a huge drug-traffiking court
case, and it is up to the irascible Jones to protect these bouncing beauties during
the trial. And what a trial it turns out to be, as Jones must survive an undercover
stint as their live-in assistant cheerleading coach.
What
follows is a pretty standard and mostly uninspired fish-out-of-water tale, as
Jones misadventures bring about painful introspection about his relationship with
his 'own' teenage daughter. Along with the would-be poignant life-lessons in store
for the new coach, comes lessons in everything from fashion to the inner-workings
of the female psyche - and oh yea, it's no easy task trying to keep these boppers
alive.
At best,
Man of the House is safe and mildly amusing, but for the most part it was pretty
flat with an occasional laugh making it’s way through the bad writing and
cliched situations. The premise here is just so hackneyed, that no amount of clever
writing could have saved it from tanking. For his part Jones is solid - he does
what he can, but this movie is really beyond even his ability to salvage. Thanks
to him the movie has its funny moments, but they are mostly lost in a morass of
scenes that are neither funny nor entertaining and border on boring.
The
one thing I find the most puzzling is why the heck was Cedric the Entertainer
in the movie? I suppose it was so they could say ‘hey we got Cedric its got
to be funny.’ Or perhaps to give the film a bit of cross-ethnic appeal. Every
scene with Cedric could have been cut, as they in no way advanced the plot or
were meaningful in any other way. I might have accepted them, but they were also
the least funny moments of the movie - all he did was that silly little Cedric
shuffle throughout his scenes. I always like Tommy Lee Jones, he really is a good
actor and can play that rough, gruff character with the best of them - unfortunately
he signed on for a doomed ride - call him the horribly wasted Man of the House.
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