Review of Life (1999) by Patrick E — 16 Jun 2010

Life is a strange film in that it boasts mostly comedians as it's main actors and is definitely funny at times but it is also quite a serious film with some poignant moments. One of the last films Eddie Murphy is in that can be deemed "funny" and one of the few films Martin Lawrence can be considered bearable, Life is an entertaining film for the most part but certainly has it's flaws.

The films plot revolves around Ray (Murphy) and Claude (Lawrence) who are wrongly convicted of a murder by a racist town sheriff in 1930's America. They are both given life sentences and sent to prison. The film follows the pairs plight over the next 60 years as they live out their sentences, meet many characters, have many fights that ultimately makes their friendship stronger, attempt numerous escapes but never give up hope of one day seeing the outside world again. The films is obviously meant to be a buddy comedy and does have some funny one liners but it also has serious scenes such as scenes dealing with racism, beatings at the hands of prison guards and the death of a fellow inmate very reminiscent of The Shawshank Redemption.

The main flaw of the film is that even though it's almost two hours long it feels as if it's too short. The narrative skips from 1930's to the 1940's, then to the 1970's and then to the present day. Most of the film revolves around the 30's and 40's but the scenes in the 70's and present are not fleshed out enough and leaves you with the impression that you are missing something. Also any of the scenes involving lots of characters are hard to follow because many of the characters seem to speak over each other and it's difficult to understand what they are saying. Some of the jokes miss the mark but most are reasonably funny. The ending is very good if a little predictable and again highlights the underlying seriousness of the film.

Life is a very flawed film that could have been better but it's still a solid effort and worth a watch.