Cast: LL Cool J, Gabrielle Union, Duane Martin, Essence Atkins, Robinne Lee, Meagan Good, Mel Jackson, Dartanyan Edmonds
Director: Gary Hardwick
Producer: Paddy Cullen
Screenplay: James Iver Mattson & B.E. Brauner and Gary Hardwick
Cinematography: Alexander Gruszynski
Music: Marcus Miller
U.S. Distributor: Focus Features
Deliver us from motion pictures where the supporting characters are nothing but thinly-disguised caricatures designed to garner an occasional, weak laugh. Deliver us from screenplays that force likable protagonists to twist and bend their personalities to serve the contortions of a ridiculous and formulaic plot. Deliver us from romantic comedies that involve bets and/or the exchange of money. And deliver us from directors who think that asking cast members to overact is the only way he can cover us the numerous ludicrous weaknesses of his screenplay.
In the midst of the sea of idiocy that represents the overall storyline of Deliver Us from Eva, LL Cool J and Gabrielle Union are an island of tranquility. When these two are together, alone and uninterrupted, the movie works, giving us flashes of what could have been had director Gary Hardwick (The Brothers) and his co-screenwriters possessed the gumption to turn away from the cliché-riddled path along which the picture stumbles. There's chemistry between the leads and they work hard to get us to like their characters. Unfortunately, as soon as any other element of Hardwick's movie intrudes, we're back into fingers-grating-on-the-blackboard mode.
The plot is standard-issue "Taming of the Shrew" material. Eva (a stunning Gabrielle Union) is the oldest and most embittered of four sisters, and the only one not currently in a relationship. She has a habit of interfering in their lives, much to the dismay of their husbands and/or boyfriends. So the guys get an idea – find a "master player" to seduce the career-minded Eva, get her to leave L.A., then dump her. Their candidate for the job is Ray (a suave LL Cool J), who agrees with reservations – one of which is that he expects to be paid $5000 (plus expenses). He starts wooing Eva, and, after a suitable time, discovers that leaving her will be harder than he expected, because he's falling in love with her. For her part, she begins losing her rough edges and stops butting into her sisters' lives. Then, of course, the truth comes out.
Deliver Us from Eva unfolds in a by-the-numbers fashion with characters pulled off of the stock shelf. (They have been used so often, they're not even dusty.) The cleverness of the title might lead optimistic viewers to believe they're in for something a cut above the average, but that's a mistaken hope. I am curious, however, about which came first: the title or the screenplay. If it's the former, the writers should have put as much effort into crafting the script as they did in coming up with a name for it.
At least the release of Deliver Us from Eva can be seen as striking a blow for movie equality. Now black audiences, at whom this picture is unmistakably targeted, have their own uninspired romantic comedy to play alongside several similarly uninspired romantic comedies out there for white audiences.
© 2003 James Berardinelli