Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
When a street-smart FBI agent is sent to Georgia to protect a beautiful single mother and her son from an escaped convict, he is forced to impersonate a crass Southern granny known as Big Momma in order to remain incognito.
Big Momma's House is a fairly formulaic fish-out-of-water comedy built on a well-worn disguise premise with little genuine surprise. The plot follows a predictable undercover-cop-falls-for-witness arc with thin stakes and recycled beats. Martin Lawrence brings his natural comedic energy and physicality to the role, elevating the material somewhat, but the supporting cast is largely unremarkable. Cinematography is workmanlike studio comedy fare with no visual ambition. The disguise concept, while not wholly original (echoing Mrs. Doubtfire and similar films), gets a specific cultural flavor, but the execution is by-the-numbers. The ending resolves neatly and without any real tension or memorable payoff.