Cinepals - LIFE (1999) Movie Reaction & Review! | Eddie Murphy | Martin Lawrence

Episode Date: November 15, 2024

Achara and Michael watch the Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence starrer "Life" for the very first time! Life follows two men wrongfully convicted of murder who form an unbreakable bond while serving life sentences in a Mississippi prison, finding humor and hope despite their dire circumstances. You can watch the cut down reaction to this movie (and many others) on our YouTube channel https://www.YouTube.com/@Cinepals and the full length reaction is available on our Patreon page https://www.cinejump.com SOCIAL MEDIA ~MICHAEL BOOSE~ Instagram: @BooseIsLoose ~ACHARA KIRK~ Twitter & Instagram:  @Acharakirk  YouTube:  @Achara  ~CINEPALS~ YouTube: @CinePals Insta: https://instagram.com/TheCinePals Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheCinePals

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You're gonna eat your cone bread We are checking out the movie Life Starring Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence Hizah I know nothing about this But I like Eddie Murphy I like Martin Lawrence

So It's gotta be good It's gotta be good Let's jump into it Here we go Let's jump into it here we go Go, go, go, you. Run!

That's so cute. Now live in Harlem. Together. Aw. Good for them. What a beautiful, like, really sweet story. Yeah. Most of my experience with, like, Eddie Murphy movies, largely, is, like, kind of the over-the-top comedy.

some of the later stuff he's done, like, coming to America or Beverly Hills Cop, too. It's like, it's a little more over the top. It's, like, sentimental. So I was going into this seeing Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence, and I was expecting, like, you know, really goofy, maybe some slapstick. Yeah, that's exactly what I was expecting to. I wasn't expecting a punch to the gut. Yeah.

I wasn't expecting to, like, want to cry. But, like, every time that I was, like, about to, then something funny would happen. Yeah. I'm like, oh, okay, all right, not today. But, like, I find the story is just, like, so distressing because, like, this happens, you know? And that's what really bothers me about the whole thing. It's like, this may as well have been a true story. Like, it could have been.

I mean, yeah, it's a true story throughout, like, most of American history, unfortunately. I'm sure it's still a true story today. You know, there's plenty of instances where mistrial, you know, like errors in justice, things like that. But the fact that they couched it in. in Martin Lawrence and Eddie Murphy's, like, back and forth banter that just has you cracking up the whole time. Yeah. Like, it really makes it lighthearted so you can still deal with that really difficult subject matter without feeling like it's weighing down on you. Yeah.

Because, like, everything's there, you know, like, there's a discussion about, like, how they're using the labor in prison, innocent people, going to prison. and then also, like, I was not expecting that storyline with Biscuit, yeah, with Biscuit, who was like, he was going to get out, but didn't want to be. Didn't want to because he couldn't live his truth out there and he was afraid of, like, the judgment or, like, what his mother would say or what other people would say. And that was really, really sad. I was like, oh, my God, like, they really went there and they covered so many things. I feel my heart doesn't feel okay right now. I feel like I need to go cry because there were so many things in this movie which just like really hurt my heart and upset me, but also at the same time, like, I didn't get

that release because it was like lighthearted and funny rooted in their relationship, which is just so cute. It never, it never went farther than like, oh, this is uncomfortable. It never went to the point of like, ah, this is awful. because I kept waiting, especially with Can't Get Right, I kept waiting for like can't get right to be killed. Yeah. I kept waiting for like bigger consequences to come down on Can't Get Right because he couldn't

take his eyes off of the daughter. Yeah. Right. And like they had this relationship. And so like when she had the kid, I was expecting, you know, a turn for the worst, right? I was expecting like, okay, we've had the funny bit. We've had the funny movie now we're getting serious. We, you know what?

We really should have known that the, I don't know what he's. as like the superintendent or something like the of the prison we should have known that he was like a pretty nice guy because all things considered first of all I was so confused because the daughter had a child out of wedlock and he seemed really happy well no because she was mac in face with the soldier but he was no okay who might have been off at war okay fair fair fair I was that was kind of the lose explanation I imagine but continue yeah because I was like Like, wait a second, because he wasn't there. Yes, conveniently he was there to show them, like, making out or whatever.

And then he just, like, disappeared for a while. And so I was like, okay, this child is out of wedlock. But maybe you're right. Maybe they were married or something. But even seeing a black baby, the dad was all like, I mean, he was upset. But I get the sense that he was still supportive of his daughter. So, like, we should have known that he was like, maybe had an inkling of being a nice guy. And so that in the end, when it's revealed, you know, when he kills the bad guy, the cop that got them in jail in the first place, like, it really shouldn't have been that much of a surprise.

But I love that he was all like, oh, man, you know, I'm really sorry. But of course, you know, they don't get. Inevitably. It's similar to the, you know, I'm X, Y, Z amount of days away from retirement. You know, as soon as someone says, like, I'm going to write up the papers tomorrow or I'm going to, like, get. Jail off into the sunset. You know, I'll be back in two days. They're not going to be back.

No. Something's going to happen. Heart attack. Random act of God. Yeah. That's just how movies go, unfortunately. Movie logic. But yeah, I think going back to can't get right and like him being able to leave the prison and go play baseball despite like doing the quote unquote cardinal sin of having an interracial relationship in one of these

films, usually that's a death now. Yeah. Like in any other film that kind of touches on these subjects, The moment the one character starts looking at the white girl and a white girl starts looking at him, he's done, right? He's dusted. I kept waiting for that to happen and it didn't. So I agree with what you said is like the premise was sad enough that it makes you feel like you need to be emotional. But the comedy keeps you from getting to that point.

Yeah. Like it covers the subject matter in a really lighthearted way. So you're still thinking about it and you're still like kind of dealing with the weight of that reality. But it never gets to the point where you really have to feel. like, oh my God, the world is horrible. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. It's certainly different. Maybe it is a good thing because then you're afforded the opportunity to kind of think about it

and to ruminate on it without feeling like so sad and hopeless. Yeah. You know? But like in a way, I'm kind of like, I wish that they had allowed us to kind of get there a little bit more and then be like, okay. But, I mean, I guess, like, after Biscuit died, there was a little moment of, like, you really felt it in the prison, you know, how that affected everyone. Because it was really awful what happened. Yeah, right?

Like Biscuit died by cop, you know, sort of thing. Yeah. It's hard. And, like, I love that they covered that. Like, it was such a beautiful little moment of character development and character arc that was really unexpected from a movie, especially one from, like, 1999. Yeah. It was more forward thinking back then, but it wasn't that forward thinking. So I really appreciate that they really kind of treated Biscuit's character with more respect.

Like, it was still kind of playing a caricature and things like that. Uh-huh. Biscuit still was a fully fleshed out character that had like an arc and an emotional beat and an emotional catharsis moment in the movie and wasn't just there to play up laughs and play a stereotype. Right. It was actually like this is something that people go through in their lives and people have had this experience. And so I really appreciated the reality of that even with the sort of character depiction of Biscuit was. Yeah, I think that's also why I was like I was so surprised. because it just kind of came out of nowhere.

Yeah, it did. Like, the character was a sort of, like, a stereotypical representation of, like, that sort of person. And but then to kind of take it somewhere really real. Yeah, exactly. Like, oh, that's surprising. It's like, it's not just for laughs. It's like we're actually going to address this. Yeah.

And in a really kind of warm way, you could argue that it also kind of goes to the old decency rules that they used to have for movies before, like, the rating system, which is why film noir exists. Basically, in old time Hollywood, before we had, like, the ratings board and things like that, they had, like, a list of decency clauses, and you had to adhere to those decency clauses, and some of them included things like, if a character is suggested to be homosexual, they have to die at the end. Or if a woman is implied to be having a relationship out of wedlock or...

She has to die? She doesn't have to die, but something bad has to happen to her. Oh, I didn't know that. It's these things. And so that's why film noir exists as a genre because they push the envelope. So they always went to the most extreme they could with things like that. Showing, like, sexually explicit relationships out of wedlock. Right, because in this, they never, they never, like, really, you don't really see him doing anything.

He's just got, like, the. It's implied. Yeah, it's just implied from the way that he's dressed and, like, kind of, you know, moves around and stuff like that. the character dies at the end. Dang. Right? So, like, you could also argue, like, Biscuit's arc was beautiful, and we addressed an actual problem and kind of gave you that sour taste in your mouth of, like, oh, why is

the world like this? Maybe I can do something to change it. But you could also argue that Biscuit's death, while very cathartic and what I think is an actual emotional beat for the film, could also be like, oh, we got to stick with the morality thing. If we're going to have this character be like an actual character, we got to have something bad to happen to that way. I mean, it's 1999.

I feel like at that point, like, you know, we, we'd moved past that, hopefully. You know, people were out and all of that. But, you know, there's still 1999. There's still a long way to go. Yeah, for sure. You know. For sure. And we still have a long way to go.

So, but yeah, no, I thought that was really great. And also with the acting. Oh, my God. Yes. Like, to go from young men to old men, I thought. that Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence did a great job but particularly Eddie Murphy I think it's really hard when you're younger to play older because like you can put all the makeup and stuff on someone and make them look old but there's something about the eyes yes there's something about

like the weariness of having been on this earth for like 90 years that you have to get in the physicality and like slow the movement down and the breeze and everything like that. And I think Eddie Murphy nailed it. He did. His physicality is an old person, especially as he got progressively older. Like when they're at the table in the infirmary, like gambling, and you're watching him continue to banter, but he nails the like vocal inflections of like slurring a little bit.

His words are a little bit slower. He's repeating himself. He kind of gets like confused halfway through sentences. Like there's a whole vocal dynamic there that's really hard for young people to kind understand because a lot of what comes from that is just like that slowing down of your mental process. Yeah. And it's really hard to slow down that mental process to slow down your actual speech. I'm no tech genius, but I knew if I wanted my business to crush it, I needed a website now. Thankfully, Bluehost made it easy. I customized, optimized, and monetized everything exactly

how I wanted with AI. In minutes my site was up. I couldn't believe it. The search engine tools even helped me get more site visitors. Whatever your passion project is, you can set it up with Bluehost. With their 30-day money-back guarantee, what do you got to lose? Head to bluehost.com. That's B-L-U-E-H-O-S-T dot com to start now. And Eddie Murphy did it perfectly. Yeah.

Like, you look at him and like, that's what Eddie Murphy's going to be like when he's 90. Yeah. That's just who he's going to be. He's still going to be cracking jokes and everything. But, you know, he's just like, you just have to listen a little bit harder. Yeah, it's going to be a little slower. And he's going to get a little bit more confused. And the conversation between Martin Lawrence and Eddie Murphy on the bench when Martin Lawrence is like, you know, we're getting out through the morgue.

I was just staring at that. I was like, this is Eddie Murphy. Yeah. Like that's not makeup. They just went back. Like forward in time in a time machine. Picked up Eddie Murphy and we're like, hey, we need you for the finishing scene of this one movie that you've already shot. Take him back and just dropped him in for filming.

Yeah. That's not young Andy Murphy. He just, he nails it perfectly. Yeah. physicality, the vocal inflection, so good. Yeah. And I mean, I think that's also one of the really great things as well about makeup, you know, because it just makes it feel so real, especially when it's done really well.

And I have to say, like, the makeup that they did on Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence was, like, just incredible, you know, like they got all of the crevices, the droopiness that comes with age, the wrinkles and everything, like, all the way down to the neck skin. Like, they really, really thought that out, and it, it really worked. It was just so believable. Yeah, yeah. This is why hours in a makeup chair is far superior than just, we're going to do it in post. Yeah.

Like, anytime they age up a character with CGI nowadays, I'm like, that looks crunchy as hell. It looks bad. It looks gross. And then, you know, because of that, to a certain extent, the actor doesn't have that, like, physical feeling there's there's a certain degree of like you add makeup you add special effects stuff to who your character is you start feeling that stuff well that's why costume's so important like I remember in in drama school one of the things an acting teacher said was like first things first find your character's shoes I've heard that a lot too is like once you figure it's literally

walk a mile in their shoes exactly when you find the shoes your character wears you can find your character and and and and then going on from that like the full costume and the makeup and everything like it really puts you in that space of like I am this person now and like I'm going to move differently because my character dresses like this or like with all the prosthetics and everything

on it's like oh I feel I feel old I feel like dragged down and stuff like that and like I wonder as well in that that part where they were going to bed in the house and then like Eddie Murphy lives like adjusting his little like stomach roll

he's got a stomach roll I'm like that I feel like like that was an Eddie Murphy choice where he spoke to makeup and was like, hey, so I had this really great bit. Like I have an idea. Can you do that for me? Because I think like that's just a cool detail. And like that kind of makes me me giggle because I'm like, yeah, you know, of course he would think about that and be like, yeah, that that would be really great. That would just make it even more authentic for me to have this like flap of skin just hanging out. And he just does it so naturally. He's just like fully bantering with Martin Lawrence and he just kind of like mid-conversation picks his shirt up and like rolls down his old man belly fat like that's absolutely

something an old grandpa would do not thinking about it too yeah I don't come from me I just need to read just let me just get this adjust my fat rolls so funny yeah I'm phenomenal I mean they're we've talked a lot about their old performances but all throughout I mean Eddie Murphy's amazing yeah Lawrence is incredible like but also the the rest of the supporting cast too you know you get time with these characters that you kind of fall in love with and it's not a lot of time but it's enough that when they kind of do that montage of them fading out and like leaving the prison one way or another you you get a little bit of paying a sorrow because you've gotten to know these characters and you've gotten to know this ensemble and they all like

in the mix with ray and claude make a family yeah and you're like i don't want to see these i don't want to see them lose their friends yeah and then on top of that it's just like the fact that it's implying that they died in prison and then I'm just like, oh, that just makes me really sad. Some of them might have gotten out. I hope that that was the case. If Biscuit got released papers, then some of them

might have also gotten released papers, right? But I mean, like, the crimes they committed, or at least we're talking about committing, I don't know how much of that was fron or how much of that was. Well, yeah, exactly. Like, you just don't know at that point. Yeah. It's like, Ray, Eddie Murphy, kind of clocked on real quick. It's like, hold on.

If we're hanging out with a bunch of murderers, we better be, like, big and bad. Big tough. Otherwise, we're going to be in trouble. Uh-huh, uh-huh. So, yeah, this is such a great film. It was amazing. Yeah. It's really well done.

I'm glad I watched it. Anyway, you guys let us know your thoughts on the movie. How did you feel when you watched it for the first time? And if you have any other recommendations, let us know in the comments. And we'll see you very soon. I'm a Chara Cook. This is Michael Boos. Ciao.