| Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son | |
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Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | John Whitesell |
| Produced by | David T. Friendly |
| Screenplay by | Matthew Fogel |
| Story by | Matthew Fogel Don Rhymer |
| Starring | Martin Lawrence Brandon T. Jackson |
| Music by | David Newman |
| Cinematography | Anthony B. Richmond |
| Editing by | Priscilla Nedd-Friendly |
| Studio | Regency Enterprises |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | February 18, 2011 |
| Running time | 108 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $32 million[1] |
| Box office | $82,686,066 [2] |
Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son (also known as Big Momma's House 3 or Big Mommas) is a 2011 crime comedy film directed by John Whitesell and written by Matthew Fogel and Don Rhymer. The film is the second sequel to Big Momma's House (2000) and starring Martin Lawrence reprising his role as FBI agent Malcolm Turner. Jascha Washington declined to reprise his role as Trent Pierce from the first two films, and Brandon T. Jackson replaced his role.[3] It was released in the United States on February 18, 2011.
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FBI agent Malcolm Turner (Martin Lawrence) is elated to learn that his stepson, Trent (Brandon T. Jackson), has been accepted to attend Duke University. However, Trent is uninterested and instead wants Malcolm to sign a recording contract for him since he is underage. When Malcolm refuses, Trent's best friends encourage him to ambush Malcolm on the job in order to obtain the signature. Malcolm, in an attempt to capture Russian gang member Chirkoff (Tony Curran), uses an informant named Canetti to deliver a flash drive to the gang, while Trent attempts to ambush Malcolm on the job. Canetti reveals that the flash drive is a fake and the real one is hidden with a friend at the Georgie Girls School for the Arts. During the exchange, Canetti's cover is blown and he is killed, which Trent witnesses. Malcolm eventually rescue Trent and they escape, but since Trent's car was left at the scene, the gang members track them down and Malcolm and Trent are forced to hide undercover. Malcolm reprises his role as Big Momma and disguises Trent as his grandniece Charmaine. Big Momma takes a job as a house mother at the Georgia Girls School for the Arts, while Charmaine is enrolled as a student. Surrounded by attractive young women, Trent nearly blows his cover, but manages to befriend a girl named Haley Robinson (Jessica Lucas). The headmistress announces that a historic music box has been stolen from the library, and Malcolm deduces that this music box contains the flash drive. While scoping out the library, Big Momma encounters security guard Curtis Cool, who attempts to woo her while giving a tour. Seeing a picture of Curtis with Canetti, Malcolm realizes that he is the friend, and tries to find out more about the music box.
Meanwhile, the gang members approach Trent's best friends, posing as record producers, and encourage them to notify them of Trent's whereabouts. Charmaine sets up a date between Haley and himself, though she doubts she will be interested in the seemingly egotistical "Prodi-G," Trent's hip-hop alias. Trent reverts to his true self and the date goes well, but an encounter with Trent's best friends causes the gang members to tail them. Trent helps Haley perfect her musical performance for the upcoming "Showcase" event, turning it into a duet, and the two exchange a kiss at the end of the date, while Haley encourages Trent to pursue college. Before the gang members can capture Trent, he changes into his Charmaine disguise, throwing them off. Learning of an exchange between two students and Curtis Cool, Big Momma attempts to flirt with Curtis in order to apprehend him for stealing the music box, but the secret exchange ends up being the stolen gamecock from the Ignatius Boys School. During this encounter, Malcolm reveals his true identity to Curtis. After gaining the favor of several students by offering sage advice and comfort to them, Big Momma finally learns the the music box was actually stolen by Haley. As she is about to perform her duet, Malcolm forces Trent to retain his Charmaine disguise, and he attempts to perform the duet with Haley as Charmaine, only to break disguise and ruin the performance. As Haley storms off, the gang members arrive and a chase ensues. Trent accidentally draws their attention as he attempts to pursue Haley and explain himself. Just as he recovers the flash drive, the gang members catch up and hold him at gunpoint. Big Momma interferes and provides an escape, but all three are caught again and Malcolm's disguise is revealed. Just as Chirkoff is about to kill him, Curtis arrives with a taser and saves the day. Trent and Haley reconcile, and Malcolm signs Trent's record contract, only to have him tear it up and reveal his new plan to attend college.
New Regency Productions spent $32 million to make the film, less than previous films in the series. They were able to reduce costs because Lawrence agreed to take a pay cut and thanks to tax incentives in Georgia.[1]
Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son has received overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 5% based on 57 reviews, with an average rating of 2.6 out of 10.[4] Metacritic gives the film a "generally unfavorable" rating of 22% based on reviews from 14 critics.[5]
Mike Hale of The New York Times notes strong similarities to Some Like It Hot and describes Faizon Love's performance as the only honestly funny thing in the whole film.[6]
The film was released in North America on February 18, 2011, ranking 5 that weekend, with a gross of $16,300,803 from 2,821 theaters. As of 26 May 2011, Big Mommas has grossed $37,915,414 in the US, and $44,770,652 elsewhere, for a worldwide total of $82,686,066.[7]
Despite being lower than the previous films (which both grossed over $100 million), Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son has been a box office success.
A music video titled "Imma Do It Big" was released on February 9, 2011.[8] The song is by Brandon T. Jackson and features One Chance & T-Pain. The song starts off with a verse by Jackson and then a verse from T-Pain then another verse by Jackson but this verse is rapped by his alterego, Charmaine from the movie. Another song called "Lyrical Miracle" by Brandon T. Jackson as he goes by the name of Trent's rapper named Prodi-G and also features Martin Lawrence as his alter-ego, Big Momma, with other characters from the movie.
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