Life (film)

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Life

The DVD cover for the movie Life.
Directed by Ted Demme
Produced by James D. Brubaker,
Karen Kehela,
Eddie Murphy,
Brian Grazer
Written by Robert Ramsey
Matthew Stone
Starring Eddie Murphy,
Martin Lawrence,
Bernie Mac,
Anthony Anderson
Music by Wyclef Jean
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date(s) April 13, 1999
Running time 108 min.
Language English
Budget $75,000,000 (estimated)
IMDb profile

Life (1999) is a comedy drama starring Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence. The film was directed by Ted Demme. Others in the cast include Bernie Mac, Anthony Anderson, Miguel A. Núñez Jr. and Bokeem Woodbine.

The film was released in April of 1999 and went on to gross over sixty million dollars at the box office. K-Ci & JoJo sang the theme to the movie, which was titled "Life", but it was the song "Fortunate" that garned the most attention from the soundtrack as it received several awards and nominations.

The film was shot at various locations in California. The locations include Locke, CA, Los Angeles, CA, Downey, CA, and Sacramento, CA. Parts of the film were actually shot at a Rockwell Defense Plant in California.

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Ray Gibson (Murphy) and Claude Banks (Lawrence) are two New Yorkers from different worlds: Ray is a hustler and Claude is about to step up to a promotion as a banker, trying to make something of himself. Forced into moonshining in order to pay off some old debts, they head down south from New York in order to buy a carload of Mississippi alcohol. Unfortunately, a man Ray had run afoul of is murdered outside of a juke joint by the town's white sheriff, and Ray and Claude happen to be in the area of the murder and are framed. They go to trial, are convicted, and sentenced to life. They spend the next 65 years trying to escape from prison, making new friends, and helping their own friendship grow. Because they were unjustly convicted, and because we tend to expect that the protagonists will win in the end, the audience is set up to expect they will find a way to escape, but for the most part, they never do. Thus the audience experiences with the two main characters the disappointment when reality begins to sink in that they are there for life. The film features a "feel good" ending, however, when the narrator in the wheelchair from the beginning—Willie Long— tells the two grave diggers that Ray and Claude had a plan to escape, and there was no reason it could not have worked. The film ends with Ray and Claude at a New York Yankees baseball game.

[edit] Tagline

  • "Share it with someone you love".

[edit] Awards & Nominations

  • Academy Award
  • NAACP Image Award
    • nominated for Outstanding Motion Picture (2000)
  • BMI Film & TV Awards
    • won for Most Performed Song from a Film (2000)
  • Blockbuster Entertainment Awards
    • nominated with Eddie Murphy for Favorite Comedy Team (2000) for the movie
    • nominated for Favorite Song from a Movie (Fortunate)

[edit] Facts and Trivia

  • In the scene where Ray is getting beat up in a fight with Goldmouth, Rayford says to Goldmouth: "I know a bitch named Della who hits harder than you." This is a reference to Harlem Nights (1989), in which Murphy's character is beat up in a fight with a madame played by Della Reese.
  • In the scene where Ray and Claude are standing on a box of bottles, Claude mentions that one of his toes has slipped into one of them. This actually happened during the take, but Martin Lawrence kept going, despite Eddie Murphy's laughing, which is genuine.

[edit] Soundtrack Listing

  1. "25 to Life" Xzibit, Ja Rule, Juvenile, Nature, Reptile
  2. "It's Like Everyday" DJ Quik & R. Kelly
  3. "Stimulate Me" Destiny's Child f/Mocha
  4. "Fortunate" Maxwell *
  5. "Lovin' You" Sparkle
  6. "Every Which Way" Talent f/Vegas Cats
  7. "It's Gonna Rain" Kelly Price
  8. "Discovery" Brian McKnight
  9. "Follow the Wind" Trisha Yearwood
  10. "Why Should I Believe You?" Mya
  11. "What Would You Do?" City High *
  12. "What Goes Around" Khadegia f/Marie Antoinette
  13. "Speechless" Isley Brothers f/Ronald Isley
  14. "Life" K-Ci & JoJo *
  15. "New Day" Wyclef Jean


(*) indicates songs were released as singles

[edit] External links

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