Jamal: Martin Lawrence	Sir Knolte: Tom Wilkinson
King Leo: Kevin Conway	Percival: Vincent Regan
Victoria: Marsha Thomason	Princess Regina: Jeannette Weegar
Ms. Bostick: Isabel Monk	Director: Gil Junger

Bottom Line: An employee at a medieval theme park is transported to the year 1328 when he picks up a gold necklace that he plans to take to the pawnshop (or to wear). He has no idea that it's the real thing.

Story Line: Jamal (Martin Lawrence) works at a tired looking theme park called Medieval World. The park's owner, Ms. Bostick (Isabel Monk) sees potential in Jamal that is not realized, even though he is always looking for the easy way to do things, rather than the right or best way. When Jamal learns that a new theme park is going to open, Castle World, his plan is to begin working for them. Jamal tells Ms. Bostick that rather than improving her business, she should sell it and retire to Florida.

When Jamal picks up a gold chain in the water, near a bridge at Medieval World, he is sucked into the stream and resurfaces in a pond that looks like it's at Castle World. He meets a homeless man named Sir Knolte (Tom Wilkinson), whose life he saves using CPR. What Jamal does not know is that is he now in the year 1328 and that while he is looking for the expressway, he will not find it. As he sees Percival (Vincent Regan) riding to the castle, Jamal is impressed at how "real" everything looks. The bricks on the castle are made of stone and there is straw in the john rather than toilet paper. When he realizes a beheading is the real thing rather than the magic he first thought, his demeanor changes rather drastically.

Some very clever writing allows the story to move along, as Jamal's conversation with King Leo (Kevin Conway) works, in either century. For example, Jamal lives on Normandie Street and the King is expecting a messenger from Normandy. The King is a tyrant, aided by his assistant Percival, after deposing the Queen. There is a plot afoot to overthrow the King and restore the Queen to her rightful position of rule. Percival treats Jamal as a disrespected Moor, quite unlike Othello. Jamal is attracted to the King's daughter, Princess Regina (Jeannette Weegar), and one of the chambermaids, Victoria (Marsha Thomason).

Jamal has funny scenes related to sleeping with both the Princess and the chambermaid, and he learns that Victoria is an underground leader who plans to kill the King. In the end Jamal becomes a hero in both the years 1328 and 2001…of course.

Tell Me More: When I see films like this, Spike Lee's Bamboozled moves one more notch up the scale to be declared a masterpiece, maybe even better than Do the Right Thing. Martin Lawrence is keeping alive the images of subservience with the characters Amos and Andy and Stepin Fetchit. There is a difference between being silly (Eddie Murphy) or stupid (Steve Martin), and ignorant. Martin sums up the persona he displays too often when he said early in the film, "Let's give it the old Al Sharpton."

Throughout the movie he followed that with plenty of bucking the eyes, high five's, overused ghetto slang and body movements. If this was Baby Boy or Bones, it would be OK. But it's not--it's an otherwise well developed story, with fine acting, containing a number of very funny moments. Take out the ham bone acting by Martin and this would have been a three star film. It has one of the better endings of any comedy I can recall, and the staged coincidences kept the story moving along at a fast pace.

Martin Lawrence is part of the problem, but so are the studios. They will give films with black actors wide distribution ¾ if it's a comedy and the actors are well known (e.g., Two Can Play That Game, Kingdom Come, and The Brothers). They do that because with a small budget, they can get their money back in two weeks or possibly on the opening weekend. If the movie has some staying power, it can be quite profitable with very low risk.

The other films with blacks in a lead role that get good distribution are ones with well known stars, such as Denzel Washington, Samuel L. Jackson or Cuba Gooding Jr., etc. There are only a handful of such actors that fit into that category that are "allowed" to do drama. Then you have quality smaller films, some with big names and others without, that studios and distributors just don't trust. One Week, for example, had a universal theme dealing with how a person deals with possibly having the HIV virus when he's about to get married, to a woman that he knows did not give it to him. The Visit, has big names like Billy Dee Williams, Hill Harper, Phylicia Rashad, and Rae Dawn Chong, and it got the same treatment as One Week….very little distribution and absolutely the minimal in marketing dollars.

The third group responsible for non-support and poor exposure for good, solid dramatic films featuring black actors, is black moviegoers. Too many do not support films like One Week and The Visit. These films don't have to make the big money and be in 3,000 theaters on opening weekend, with strong support in a limited number of movie houses, the films can make money and give deserving actors, directors and writers the ability to make bigger, higher budget films down the road.

In Chicago, for example, there were two recent events that showcased black filmmakers that only got marginal to good support from the black audience. One was the Black Harvest Film Festival at the Gene Siskel Film Center, and the other was the Black Perspective section of the Chicago International Film Festival, which is meant to "highlight the diversity and audacity of today's Black Cinema…." There were excellent short and feature length films that should have had turn away crowds. Considering the size of the population, the fact that both programs have been going on for years and that both were heavily promoted, this is, at best, a disappointing situation. Everything is not on "the man" and those that "green light pictures." This only feeds the logic of the studios that there is no audience for blacks that lead films which are not comedies, or a drama with a truly big name star.

Now we really know why The Hughes Brothers made From Hell, which has no black actors in it. They are breaking the mold with the approach of "if your ship does not come in to you, swim out to it." I'm ticked at the studios and distributors for decisions they make about how moviegoers, blacks in particular, think. I'm angry with much of the black audience because they are proving the studio executives right. Actions do speak louder than words.

Martin Lawrence: Big Momma's House	Tom Wilkinson: In the Bedroom
Kevin Conway: Thirteen Days	Vincent Regan: The Point Men
Marsha Thomason: Long Time Dead	Jeannette Weegar: Debut
Gil Junger: Ladies Man- TV