Man of the House deserves eviction notice

Thursday, March 03, 2005

There are some concepts best left in the meeting room.

Having Tommy Lee Jones spoof his tough guy image isnt a bad idea. Having him spoof his image in a film like Man of the House is a very bad idea.

This is a flat comedy that generated maybe one laugh the entire film, with a cast who all seem to be on autopilot. You can almost see the actors exiting each scene with their hands held out, anticipating their pay day.

Jones plays Roland Sharp, a Texas Ranger who must protect a group of cheerleaders from the University of Texas. The girls are witnesses to the murder of a key witness in a case against a bigwig although I dont think Man of the House ever really tells what the bigwig did. To protect the cheerleaders, Sharp goes undercover as an assistant coach and moves in with the girls.

Hilarity and hijinks ensue, or at least try to ensue. Most of the jokes fall with a loud thud with one notable exception. When Sharp first introduces himself as a Texas Ranger, one of the girls asks him if he knows New York Yankee baseball player Derek Jeter.

Every other joke is about as funny as watching a continuous loop of Gigli and Catwoman. You sense that even the filmmakers realized this wasnt funny, throwing in Cedric the Entertainer for about five useless minutes.

I guess I should have been prepared, considering director Stephen Herek is responsible for such classics as Holy Man and Critters.

I will give Man of the House credit for one thing there is plenty of eye candy and Herek has no problem exploiting the girls for their talents.

But even good-looking women arent enough to keep this 90-minute film from feeling like a three-hour epic. This movie year hasnt gotten off to a good start, but even The Wedding Date looks like Million Dollar Baby compared to this garbage.

Discount dandy of the week

This weeks dandy is Spanglish (B+), the underrated James L. Brooks film that gets another chance in second run.

Paz Vega is fantastic as Flor, a single Mexican mom who immigrates to Los Angeles hoping to find a better life for her daughter, Christina (Victoria Luna).

At first, Flor chooses to stay close to her heritage. Once she needs a better paying job, she ventures out and is hired as a housekeeper for an eccentric family.

The father, John (Adam Sandler), is a world-famous chef trying to keep together his fragile family that includes an insecure wife, Deborah (Tea Leoni), an alcoholic mother-in-law (Cloris Leachman) and an overweight daughter, Bernice (Sarah Steele), burdened by her mothers insecurities.

Brooks screenplay does a good job of building the characters and establishing relationships, although I get the sense that this film could have easily been an hour longer than its 2:15 running time.

Sandler makes another step toward his transition from comedic actor to serious actor, while Leoni actually evokes sympathy for a character with some serious issues.

But it is Vega who lifts Spanglish to its lofty heights. She is very beautiful and enticing in her first major English-speaking role. When she is on the screen, which is most of the film, she commands your attention.

Spanglish opens Friday at the Plaza 6, where all movies are $1.50.

Sportswriter/movie reviewer Micheal Compton is still gloating about correctly predicting all six major Academy Award winners in last weeks column. If you would like to congratulate him, or tell him to shut up already, e-mail him at mcompton@bgdailynews.com.  Daily News ·813 College St. ·PO Box 90012 ·Bowling Green, KY ·42102 ·270-781-1700