Todd Anderson (Quran Pender) is chosen as the #1 NBA draft pick by the New Jersey
Nets and signs a contract for thirty million dollars to play for his home team,
this incident instantly changes everything in his life. The cookout has been a
family tradition in Todd's family and his mother Lady EM played by Jenifer Lewis
is not going to let her son forget his roots. Todd is at a crossroads and with
his newfound wealth means his relationships with the people in his life is bound
to change and evidently becomes vulnerable.
Todd buys a new house and throws a family-neighborhood cookout. The cookout is
mistakably scheduled for the wrong day he scheduled an endorsement interview the
same day. The cookout is more extravagant than the typical American dinner gathering,
it is like a giant reunion and all havoc breaks loose for the feast of Southern
home cooking.
As the new black man living in a white neighborhood, Todd attracts a lot of attention.
Queen Latifah is the eccentric security guard who makes matters worse for Todd.
She makes clear to Todd that he would be busted if any of the neighborhood association's
rules gets broken. Unfortunately for Todd as the family arrives, to nobody's surprise
the rules get broken. Peeping neighbors are drawn to and gawk at the group. Attending
the cookout are Todd's friend Bling Bling, Todd's former high school sweetheart,
his mother, his current girlfriend Brittany (Meagan Good), his uncle (Tim Meadows),
a neighbor(Danny Glover) who is a judge accompanied by his wife (Farrah Fawcett).
Todd feels embarrassed about his family. Meanwhile, his Newark neighborhood friends
Bling Bling (Ja Rule) and Wheezer (Ruperto Vanderpool) two good-for-nothing come
up with there own wicked plan. They crash the party and hold Todd's girlfriend
at gunpoint in order to get him to autograph his sneakers. The message here is
about the importance of family. The chaos caused by the hoodlums helps Todd realize
how much he needs his family support.
The dialogue is not impressive at all. The movie has many jokes but unfortunately
most of them fall flat. The story becomes predictable after the first five minutes.
Director Lance Rivera has tried to intertwine various subplots in the story
of "The Cookout" but he has failed to notice that none is interesting
and lacking the jokes and fun. Racial prejudice is a theme of the movie. But it
loses its credit and seriousness as an African-American comedy because of it's
stereotype clumsy jokes.
