Product Details

• Actors: Martin Lawrence, Nia Long, Paul Giamatti, Jascha Washington, Terrence Howard
• Directors: Raja Gosnell
• Writers: Darryl Quarles, Don Rhymer
• Producers: Aaron Ray, Arnon Milchan, David Higgins, David T. Friendly, Jeff Kwatinetz
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Special Edition, NTSC
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• VHS Release Date: April 3, 2001
• Run Time: 98 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (84 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000059HGX
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #378,253 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

No one tries very hard in Big Momma's House, so your enjoyment of this Martin Lawrence vehicle pretty much depends on how much amusement you're able to derive from a guy dressed up as a very ample woman. The setup is of the eye-rolling, only-in-Hollywood nature: Lawrence, as detective Malcolm Turner, is after a killer, and apparently the only way to capture him is to pose as the bad guy's ex-girlfriend's grandmother, who--the film cannot stress this point too much--is quite large.

Apparently, Sherry (Nia Long), the young woman in question--she's as attractive as Big Momma is, well, you know--is none too bright, for she falls for Malcolm's ruse, which of course ostensibly amuses mainly because it's so transparent. She at least has an excuse--she hasn't seen Big Momma in two years--but Big Momma's oblivious friends must be functional morons. Screenwriters Darryl Quarles and Don Rhymer didn't tax themselves very much, as they have Malcolm-as-Big-Momma going through fairly predictable motions--botching a meal and delivering a baby unconventionally (Big Momma's a midwife), but ruling at basketball and self- defense and protecting Sherry while trying vainly not to flirt with her. Paul Giamatti is wasted as Malcolm's partner; director Raja Gosnell's clunky sense of comic rhythm is bewildering, because he used to be an editor (he brought a similar lack of magic to Home Alone 3).

Lawrence won't have anyone forgetting Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in Some Like It Hot, Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie, or Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire anytime soon. Big Momma's House benefits mainly by being first to the marketplace ahead of Eddie Murphy's The Nutty Professor 2: The Klumps; Murphy's work in prosthetics is far more accomplished, versatile, and funny. --David Kronke

From The New Yorker

Another strained urban comedy, this one starring Martin Lawrence as an F.B.I. agent who dresses in three-hundred-pound drag to catch an escaped convict. What separates this film from the genre's usual fodder is a particularly strong cast: Lawrence, along with Paul Giamatti, Nia Long, and the always exceptional Terrence Howard, gives the film a vulgar energy. It's a shame that their efforts are wasted on a script that's an intermittently funny cut-and-paste job, taking elements from earlier popular movies ("Mrs. Doubtfire," "The Nutty Professor"). An actor as dangerously funny as Lawrence deserves better. -Bruce Diones
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but not as good as it could have been with some radical revisions, August 25, 2006

By 

Farffleblex Plaffington (Parnybarnel, Mississippi) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Big Momma's House (Special Edition) (DVD)

The biggest problem with Big Momma's house is that you can often see just how funny it should be, but the cast and crew are not able to sustain the occasional hilarious parts with any consistency.

It doesn't seem to help that Big Momma's House wants to be more than a comedy. Writers Darryl Quarles and Don Rhymer shoot for a combination of a crime comedy ala Beverly Hills Cop (1984) and a romantic comedy. But the core comedy is absurdist, while the mostly serious crime stuff is so underwritten that it would be better absent, and the somewhat serious rom-com stuff is so generic and predictable that it has all the surprise of attending Mass.

To me, the comedy being absurdist is a plus, but it doesn't mesh well with other modes. It's ridiculous, of course, that Malcolm Turner (Martin Lawrence) is trying to pass himself off as "Big Momma" Hattie Mae Pierce (Ella Mitchell). That's a large part of what makes it funny. However, director Raja Gosnell's decision to play the rest of the cast as mostly deadpan is a strange one. It leads the viewer to take the film in a more realist mode, but if you're doing that, you keep asking yourself why anyone else would believe that Turner is actually Big Momma. Gosnell should have gone for another approach during the Turner as Big Momma scenes. It's not that they're never funny, but too often the deadpan interaction breaks the humor.

However, the deadpan attitude works wonders when Mitchell is Big Momma. Mitchell is a fantastic here as a comic actress and especially Paul Giamatti as John is hilarious interacting with her. Once those too-brief scenes ended, I was wishing they wouldn't have, and when they reappeared again at the end, it made me more fully realize how much better they were. A whole film could have and should have been written around Mitchell as Big Momma with Giamatti and Lawrence interacting with her and beautiful co-star Nia Long via some other story.

Even with these problems, Big Momma is an enjoyable film. My wife enjoyed it even more than I did, we're looking forward to watching Big Momma's House 2, and we'll certainly watch this again in the future. But it's a case of moments of brilliance poking through so that you see just how much better it could have been.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Big Momma's House, August 28, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Big Momma's House [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I think this is a very very funny movie. Martin Lawrence is at his best in this movie. I know a lot of people didn't like the
bathroom scene.but,i thought it was very funny. All the people in the film are great. i really like nolen the security guard.
he was awesome in the movie. i laughed so hard during the entire film my stomach was sore at the end.the movie is defintly worth
a look a MUST BUY MUST OWN i promise you'll absolutly love it.
another wonderful scene from the movie was when Martin dressed as big momma had to deliver a baby that is hillarious.
Martin is truly at the top of his acting career in this flim.
i think it's the best film Martin has made so far.
Ella Mitchell who played the real big momma is very funny also.
she is a marvelous actress. she has a scene at the beginning of the movie where she finds a dog in her yard she says lord i done told sadie bout this dog. then she picks up the dog and says if i catch you in my yard again i'll barbeque me some hot dog.
very funny. nia long is great also a very beautiful lady and a great actress.
another one of my favorite part's of the movie is when nia boy gets kicked of the basketball court and, Martin dressed as big momma goes to the court and gives the guys at the court a lesson in hoops.
anyway, it's a marvelous movie buy a copy today from Amazon i promise you'll love it. you want be able to stop laughing.
it's a MUST HAVE MOVIE.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Big Momma's House, October 10, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Big Momma's House (Special Edition) (DVD)

I hesitated to go see this movie because I thought it would be terrible and I thought it would be lacking in the "hilarious department".

All I can say is that this was by far one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. I enjoyed it so much, that I went back to see the movie twice. Martin Lawrence was very, very funny. I laughed so hard that I was embarassing myself.

This is definitely a "must see" movie.