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MOVIE
REVIEW
Family
tensions erupt when the Slocum clan comes
together for the funeral of Woodrow
"Bud" Slocum.
Story
When Raynelle Slocum's husband dies of a stroke,
family members come together in the small town
of Lulu for his funeral. To some family members,
however, Woodrow "Bud" Slocum was not
an agreeable man. They even consider engraving
the words
"Mean and Surly" on his tombstone.
Their differences eventually bring them to blows
and they argue, condescend, wrestle and pull
guns on one another. Peppered throughout the
insanity are some touching story lines that
unfortunately get lost in the mess.
The coming together of this dysfunctional clan
is suppose to be the funny part of the film,
only it misses by a long shot. Instead of a
laugh-a-minute, knee-slapping comedy, Kingdom
Come is 94 minutes of constant bickering between
lowbrow kinfolk.
Acting
You would definitely expect more from such an
impressive group of actors. Whoopi Goldberg, who
plays the part of widow Raynelle Slocum, spends
most of the film in a passive state of
disbelief, the result either of her children
shouting obscenities at
one another or of the fact that she took this
part in the first place. LL Cool J, who plays
her son Raybud Slocum, gives the film's most
redeeming performance. Working from a weak
script pervaded with racial stereotypes, he
still manages to convey both
sincerity and depth as a hard-working reformed
alcoholic. Vivica A. Fox plays his wife Lucille
Slocum, who spends the entire film in a constant
state of oblivious complacency, apart from a
scene in which she discovers her miscarried baby
in a bucket of
fried chicken. She spends the rest of the time
serving up corn dogs with a smile on her face as
everything falls apart around her. Jada Pinkett
Smith gives an equally unimpressive showing as
the sister-in-law with an inconsistently acted
attitude.
Direction
Directed by Doug McHenry Kingdom Come is an
adaptation of the play Dearly Departed. The
film, though visually authentic--from the
setting of the small town of Lulu to the hats
and costumes the characters wore--fails
miserably otherwise.
Marketed as a Nutty Professor-type comedy,
Kingdom Come wavers precariously between comedy
and drama, and the story and characters are
inconsistently developed, if at all. Pinkett
Smith's character for example, is supposed to be
a tough,
independent woman, but she all too easily
forgives her husband when she learns of his
extramarital tryst and again when he points a
gun at her head and threatens to kill her. With
the exception of LL Cool J's character, the
others were underdeveloped
caricatures. They irritate more than evoke
sympathy.
Bottom
line
Though this family-oriented comedy has some
tender moments, it does not have much going for
it apart from a great soundtrack.
Kingdom
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