Search - Various Artists :: Bringing Down the House

Lonely white yuppie lawyer meets woman on internet. Woman is street-smart soul-sister ex-con who teaches white boy a thing or two about Respect and Love. Much hilarity ensues. (Well, two out of three ain't bad.) But just as the odd couple vehicle for Queen Latifah and Steve Martin can't even seem to get its cartoonish formula down straight, the film's hip-hop laden song-score (co-produced by Latifah) offers up a few bright moments from some contemporary hip-hop royalty (Foxy Brown's sassy "Whatcha Gonna Do," Latifah's soulful "Better Than the Rest," the pop-R&B of Kelly Price's "Ain't Nobody"). N.E.R.D.'s hypnotic "Rock Star" and Mr. Cheeks slinky "Move Somethin'" inject some much-needed edge into proceedings that too often push tasty street beats off the plate for heaping rations of warmed over McHip-Hop. --Jerry McCulley