Nothing to write home about

Some fine performances -- including by Mo'Nique and Martin Lawrence --

aren't enough to rescue 'Roscoe Jenkins'

Review C

Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins imagines slapstick farce as feel-good dramedy, which is to say, it's an unhappy (and largely unfunny) marriage of two movie types that don't really go together. Imagine a Three Stooges short with a feel-good ending, and you get the idea.

As slapstick farce, it has a few moments, most of them thanks to either Mike Epps or Baltimore's own Mo'Nique, who ought to take out a patent on her sassy big-girl shtick. Epps, who has made a career out of playing the fast-talking, shiftless best bud, always getting into trouble and barely getting out, frequently suffers from overexposure in his film roles. But here, for once, he's on-camera just enough to stir the pot when it needs stirring. He cracks wise, raises a howl or two from the audience, then disappears for a while.

Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins (Universal Pictures) Starring Martin Lawrence, Cedric the Entertainer, Mo'Nique. Directed by Malcolm D. Lee. Rated PG-13. Time 114 minutes.

Parents' Guide

Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins

Rating -- PG-13

What it's about -- A successful talk-show host and his Survivor-winner fiancee attend a family reunion in rural Georgia, where old grudges and old flames come back to haunt him.

The Kid Attractor Factor -- Lots of slapstick, naughty language and a heaping helping of Mo'Nique.

Good lessons/bad lessons -- Lifetime grudges will eat you alive, and "Don't let money raise your kids."

Violence -- Bruising slapstick brawls.

Language -- The odd blast of profanity.

Sex -- Fairly graphic for a PG-13.

Drugs -- Discussed, comically, at length in the closing credits.

Parents' advisory -- The simulated sex, fistfights and jokes about drug dealing in the closing credits make this inappropriate for 11-and-younger, with or without "parental guidance."

Orlando Sentinel