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Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins
Universal Pictures


6.8

based on 23 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 6 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for crude and sexual content, language and some drug references

Starring Martin Lawrence, Margaret Avery, Michael Clarke Duncan, Louis C.K., Mike Epps, Mo'Nique, Cedric the Entertainer, and James Earl Jones

Talk-show sensation RJ Stevens left behind his modest Southern upbringing and family name to transform into a self-help guru dispensing his "Team of Me" philosophy to millions of adoring fans. With a reality-TV-star fiancée and money to burn, there's no piece of the Hollywood dream RJ hasn't achieved. After his parents request that he come home for their 50th wedding anniversary, the TV host packs up his 10-year-old son and diva bride-to-be and heads back to Georgia. It's a chance to prove to his family that he's no longer the awkward kid they relentlessly picked on. At least, that's the plan...But when his crazy, lovable family calls him on his big-city attitude and challenges him at every turn, RJ is forced to take a hard look at the man he's become. He may be a superstar in L.A., but he's just one of the guys in Dry Springs as folks say "Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins." (Universal Pictures)

GENRE(S):	Comedy
WRITTEN BY:	Malcolm D. Lee
DIRECTED BY:	Malcolm D. Lee
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: June 17, 2008 Theatrical: February 8, 2008
RUNNING TIME:	114 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

New York Post Kyle Smith

Turns out to be formulaic and broad but also skillfully paced and big-hearted, with a sharp cast of comics that makes the most of a sunny script.

Village Voice Chuck Wilson

Although the big comic setups in Lee's script feel a bit forced--the director continually sets up moments of rapid-fire, barb-filled interplay among his accomplished cast.

Entertainment Weekly Clark Collis

Mo'Nique is similarly given little opportunity to show off her indisputable comedic chops, though her freewheeling monologue during the closing credits hints at what might have been.

Chicago Tribune Kelley L. Carter

Under normal circumstances, too many comics spoil the show.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Jason Anderson

More than sufficiently funny.

The New York Times Matt Zoller Seitz

It’s a cut above other films of its type because every scene is packed with details like those pliers -- touches that suggest that the film’s writer and director, Malcolm D. Lee (“The Best Man”), is working overtime to smuggle life into formula.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

The film has a warmth and raucousness that's surprisingly disarming.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

Be warned that what looks to be a family comedy pushes its PG-13 rating to the edge with blatant sexual references and creatively crude sexual metaphors.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

It's not the unevenness of the comedy that kills Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins but the illegitimacy of the drama.

Variety Justin Chang

An in-your-face double helping of fat jokes, crude slapstick, wacky Southern-black stereotypes and occasionally inspired improv.

Austin Chronicle Josh Rosenblatt

At its best, Roscoe Jenkins is about the crushing influence of the past and one man’s attempts to free himself – by hook, crook, or Hollywood – from underneath it. At its worst, however, the movie is content to just explore the apparently infinite comic potential of dogs having sex, people getting sprayed by skunks, and men getting beaten up by overweight women.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

A talented comedian, Lawrence has leaned all too easily on formula for his successful films. Imagine if he would test his flair against original and fresh premises, instead of the tried and trite. Why, he'd discover what it's like to take pride, not just profit.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

A few laughs and a lot of hyperbolic shtick make this a little better than formulaic before the standard-issue resolution.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

As Roscoe's parents, Margaret Avery and James Earl Jones emerge with drawers undropped and dignity intact.

The Hollywood Reporter Sheri Linden

The cast's evident delight might be enough for some moviegoers, but with so much talent and so little modulation on offer, audiences subjected to the onslaught could reasonably expect a higher laughs-to-torture ratio.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Lawrence's co-stars are more than ready to provide salty humor while creating a loose, almost improvised feel.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

Imagine a Three Stooges short with a feel-good ending, and you get the idea.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Crust

A near continuous assault of clichés, Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins doesn't become truly bothersome until its denouement, when it attempts to wring unearned sentiment from the inevitable, awkwardly staged family rapprochement.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

This is one of those your-roots-are-showing family circuses where just about everybody seems like a clown.

USA Today Scott Bowles

Give this to Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins: The dogs can act.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Nothing the skunk does can begin to match the stench of this movie.

San Francisco Chronicle Walter Addiego

The effort is undermined with crass humor, mugging and slapstick.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

It's not that you can't go home again. It's that you SHOULDN'T, at least not in a lowbrow Hollywood comedy, because your family will inevitably be lewd, crude, loud and obnoxious.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.8 (out of 10) based on 6 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Raven gave it a10:
Great movie, tons of laughs and really shows how movies are still funny (despite movies like Epic Movie, Strange Wilderness, ect...movies with comedy made for 12 year olds).

Chad S. gave it a7:
Just another crude and crass yu(c)k-fest starring alleged funny-man Martin Lawrence would be the knee-jerk reaction to "Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins"; and yes, the Jenkins clan are indeed crude and crass, which gives creedence to the haters who dismiss contemporary African-American films as either being celluloid minstrel shows, or movies that a non-Black audience can't relate to. But if you look beyond the rutting dogs and low-brow humor, "Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins" can be defended as a blaxploitation art film, because this reasonably entertaining comedy about a urban woman who discovers that her accomplished mate is really a country boy at heart, plays like a black "Junebug". Bianca Kittles(Joy Bryant) might be supercilious, but being patronizing is far worse(like the Embeth Davidz character in the Phil Morrison charmer from 2005). Mo'Nique, who inhabits the Amy Adams role, pays no mind to Joy's curvy figure and sophistication; the junewhale receives no mentoring or condescending hugs(in "Junebug", Madeliene(Davidz) pats Ashley(Adams) on the back like a baby when they embrace) from the "Survivor"-winner, because she is proud of her full figure and rural background. "Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins", because it is a broad comedy, doesn't really give Roscoe(Martin Lawrence) a reason to choose his family over Joy. Despite his success, he's still treated like the black sheep. "Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins" should've ended like "Junebug", but it doesn't. There's a change-of-heart; there's a U-turn.

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Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins Universal Pictures

Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins
Universal Pictures