Whoopi Goldberg, LL Cool J, Jada Pinkett Smith, Anthony Anderson, Loretta Devine, Vivica A. Fox. Time 94 minutes.
Stress makes strange families turn even stranger.
Preparing for the funeral brings out all manner of resentments, insecurities and old grudges, the kind that end up with two grown men wrestling on the living room floor like rival schoolboys. The script, like the direction by Doug McHenry, relies too heavily for comic effect on broad comic contrivances and high-volume arguments. It is far more effective when it is neither straining for laughs or shoving the family into happy-ending contrivances, but instead allowing the characters to settle down and simply talk to one another. The cast overall is terrific. Whoopi Goldberg, as the unsentimental widow, achieves a wonderful effect as an island of calm amid her battling, hysterical brood.