Cedric The Entertainer Page 2

There's a terrific sense of righteous anger in this scruffy comedy about disenfranchised people shaking American politics to its core. But the film plays it far too safely, dealing lightly with important themes while refusing to take a real stand on anything. It also never makes the most of its likeable, fully invested cast.

Based on a true story, the film is set in 2001 Seattle, where long-time buddies Phil and Grant (Biggs and Moore) are both unemployed journalists. When Grant decides to run for city council, Phil helps with the campaign. Grant's main passion is public transportation, which he sees as a social justice issue since it's what allows lower-income people to work and improve their lives. And his counter-culture approach makes him stand out opposite the unruffled incumbent (Cedric). On the other hand, Phil's girlfriend Emily (Ambrose) starts to worry when Grant's campaign becomes a centre for frat-boy antics, including rather a lot of pot-smoking. But this populist approach is like a breath of fresh air to voters.

Watching these no-hopers take on a well-oiled political machine is pretty inspirational, especially when the characters have so much raw charm. Biggs is superb in the central role, grounding even the most chaotic scenes in earthy honesty. By contrast, Moore feels a little overwrought as the hyperactive Grant, which makes us wonder why anyone would take him seriously. Although he nicely brings out Grant's inner resolve. And both Ambrose and Cedric add complex layers to their rather thinly written characters.

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Instead of developing the characters or situations for comedy gold, the filmmakers instead just crank up the chaos. So while some scenes are both funny and visually impressive, this second sequel is simply too inane to make us hope there will be a part 4. Very young kids may be distracted by the hectic pacing and hyperactive characters, but everyone else will quickly be bored by the nonstop mayhem, simply because there's nothing interesting going on.

Anxious lion Alex (Stiller), chatty zebra Marty (Rock), nerdy giraffe Melman (Schwimmer) and silly hippo Gloria (Smith) are living a Lion King-style existence in Africa, although their only hope for escape has just flown away. Namely, the brainy penguins and their monkey assistants. So our heroes follow them to Monaco, where they all end up on the run from the notorious animal control agent Dubois (McDormand). They run straight into a failing circus, which they set out to bring back to its glory days so they can catch the eye of an American promoter and go home to New York. To do this means working with the current circus acts: sultry cheetah Gia (Chastain), dorky sea lion Stefano (Short) and tetchy tiger Vitaly (Cranston).

The circus premise lets the filmmakers have a lot of visual fun with the characters, most notably in a riotously colourful Cirque du Soleil-on-acid performance in London. But the plot makes no sense at all (if they can get to Monaco, surely they could get to New York, right?), and there are so many new characters that the central quartet feels almost sidelined. Especially since they've also wedged in an under-developed romance for the lemur king (Baron Cohen). Yes, it's all over the place, and being busy is not the same thing as being clever or funny.

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Jackie Gleason and Audrey Meadows pulled it off because1) they gave a certain tenacious chemistry to their characters' head-buttingmarriage, 2) Gleason had a gift for finding humor and humanity in unsympatheticroles, and 3) it was a simpler time, when idiotic get-rich-quick schemesweren't quite such a tiresome excuse for cheap laughs.

But none of this is true of the big-screen remake starringCedric the Entertainer as conniving New York City bus driver Ralph Kramden,who spends the whole movie lying to his waitress wife Alice (GabrielleUnion) while emptying their bank account to buy an antique train car (hethinks fitting it with tires is enough to create a money-making tour bus)or to race a stray greyhound at the local track.

Cedric may split sides with his stand-up routines and politicallyincorrect topical rants in the "Barbershop"movies,but here he's sleepwalking through a routine script full of uninspiredexposition ("All we need is $20,000 for the down payment..."),stereotypical characters (loud-mouthed mother-in-law), shopworn physicalgags (cayenne pepper ends up in someone's food), contrived conflicts (Ralphhas a falling out with Ed, his dim-witted plumber best pal played by half-stonedMike Epps), pop culture references ("You're just a regular UPN sitcom,ain't 'cha, Alice?"), lucky coincidences, and insultingly easy resolutionsto all life's problems.

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