Noted talk show host and self-help guru Roscoe “RJ” Stevens (Martin Lawrence) returns home to Atlanta for his parents Mama Jenkins (Margaret Avery) and Papa Jenkins’ (James Earl Jones) fiftieth wedding anniversary after a nine year absence living in California and becoming a star. Bringing with him his recent “Survivor” winner fiancé Bianca (Joy Bryant), the television sensation discovers his large extended family is just as raucous and as crazed as it ever was, especially after his ultra competitive cousin Clyde (Cedric the Entertainer) arrives with his former childhood love Lucinda (Nicole Ari Parker) in tow.

Martin Lawrence and Joy Bryant in Universal Pictures' Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins

The most amusing part of watching Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins occurred right at the start of the preview screening. For about twenty minutes the person running the camera hadn’t noticed they were mis-projecting the film, the aspect ratio so unbelievably off heads were cut off, entire characters were missing and boom mics could be seen everywhere. It was an unintentional (if obnoxiously annoying) riot, and while my laughs has more to do with this bravura display of incompetence more than anything else they were still laughs and as such I wasn’t about to take any of them for granted.

Considering just how bad (and unfunny) this movie proves to be that was probably a good idea. Watching this picture is akin to two hours of being beaten over the head with a rubber chicken peppered with razor blades, and by the time it was over my head hurt so bad it would have taken a whole bottle of aspirin to make it go away. It is a sitcom-like extravaganza but without the commercials to distract us from just how awful it all is, and for anyone who thought either of Lawrence’s Big Momma’s House adventures were insipid just wait until they get a load of this.

In many ways, the disaster which is this motion picture is even more disheartening then the crater-like aftermath of your typical Tyler Perry vehicle (which, in all fairness, are actually getting better). Writer and director Malcolm D. Lee made two underrated (and somewhat priceless) little gems with 1999’s The Best Man and 2005’s Roll Bounce. This time out he wastes a cast of African American talent so strong, so winning, observing them fail so miserably is almost beyond the pale. Everyone involved, including Jones, Avery, Parker, Bryant, Michael Clarke Duncan, Mo'Nique, Mike Epps and Louis C.K., look lost and bored, all of them seemingly waiting for some sort of signal that this nightmare they’re all acting in is almost over.

Unfortunately that signal takes forever to finally come. The film goes on and on and on and on and on almost as if it will never end. Even the credits don’t know when to stop, the almost unbelievably cavalcade of brutally unfunny one-liners continuing almost to infinity. It is as if Lee forgot how to craft a cohesively endearing narrative, everything about the picture crashing to earth so frequently by the time it is finally over the bones holding it together are crushed into powdery nothingness.

On the plus side, Lawrence is nowhere near as oft-putting or annoying as he usually is, while Parker has an intoxicating smile which could put an uptight Ebenezer Scrooge at ease. Not that these should be construed as reasons to give the film a break. They’re not, and no matter which way you look at it Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins is unwelcome theatrical houseguest worthy of vacating. 

Film Rating: ê1/2 (out of 4)

Additional Links:

-  Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins Theatrical Trailer