Thursday, February 06, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Film: Acting can't Deliver Us from Eva

By Mike Prevatt

In the new Gary Hardwick (The Brothers) comedy Deliver Us from Eva, every character has a specific role to play. As a result, each one is reduced to a caricature that, while typically inoffensive, is without dynamic or depth. You're never really convinced that Eva (Gabrielle Union, Bring It On) is the symbol of sacrifice, looking out for her three sisters rather than living the life she really wants to lead. And you're rarely sold on Ray (LL Cool J), destined to be the smoothie that softens Eva's ballbreaker faãade. This is because their movements are predictable, their dialogue is contrived, their emotions are either over-the-top (Eva) or barely register (Ray), and their general demeanor cannot transcend the natural expectations we have of them.

Especially disappointing is Union's go at Eva. The young actress's commanding turn in Bring It On hinted at good things in the future, but this isn't one of them. She exaggerates her intellectual anger so much, you question her authenticity. In fact, her psychological posturing and reliance on Cosmo-like stats are her undoing. She puts her male counterparts under a microscope and forces them into narrow gender roles. Granted, Hardwick does that himself with the three husbands, but Eva almost perpetuates their limitations. (This, to say nothing of the gay hairdresser character. We will say he gets more time than we might expect, but ruins it as a color-by-numbers stereotype.)

The lousy performances in Deliver Us are its worst attributes, but there's more to the madness. The plot--the three husbands of a group of sisters pay off a "playa" (Ray) to distract their sister-in-law (Eva) from interfering with their marriages--makes for what feels like an overextended sitcom episode. The saving grace of the story is supposed to be the accidental romance destined to make Eva and Ray become better people, but even for an escape-friendly mainstream comedy, little of it is believable.

A positive note: In defense of Hardwick's efforts to make a more mature comedy, Deliver Us from Eva doesn't deserve the R rating the MPAA gave it. Aside from some mild conversational innuendo, the sex and profanity are kept to a minimum here. Might've spiced things up, actually.