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MAN OF THE HOUSE (2005)

What You Need To Know:

MAN OF THE HOUSE is an embarrassing, poorly conceived comedy starring Tommy Lee Jones as a tough guy Texas sheriff who has to go undercover with a house full of college cheerleaders. The ditzy, self-absorbed cheerleaders witnessed a murder, and a dangerous crime boss wants to have them killed to protect himself. The sheriff and the cheerleaders clash at first but, of course, come to understand each other at the end. The movie is extremely desperate, unfunny, and often crude.

There is a smattering of foul language but nothing excessive. Some scenes take place in a church but are neither religious nor anti-religious. There is, however, an ex-con minister who might still have some shady dealings. The violence is weak compared to a typical action movie, but too strong for a comedy, especially one which should appeal to young girls. That’s the million dollar question: To whom does this movie appeal? It is too bland for teenagers, but too dumb for adults. The plot is too minimal for an action movie, but the dialogue is too haphazard for a comedy. Hopefully few people will be subjected to MAN OF THE HOUSE and its boringness.

Content:

(B, Pa, AB, LL, VV, A, M) Eclectic worldview contains weakly moral plot about civic and familial duty, plus a storyline about a crooked cop, and an ex-con minister who is still sneaky; 17 obscenities, four of them ‘s’ words, and six profanities, plus an extremely vulgar scene in which a man removes a telephone from inside a cow; light action violence includes several people shot, guns fired, explosions, aggressive men almost attack women in bar, cop hits men to defend women, and a car wreck; brief, non-lurid discussion of teen sex statistics and no sexual activity; girls in skimpy gym clothes but no nudity; alcohol; and villain kidnaps teenager and tries to kill witnesses to cover his crimes, plus an anti-cheating message.

More Detail:

MAN OF THE HOUSE is an embarrassing, poorly conceived comedy starring Tommy Lee Jones as a tough guy Texas sheriff who has to go undercover with a house full of college cheerleaders. The ditzy, self-absorbed cheerleaders witnessed a murder, and a dangerous crime boss wants to have them killed to protect himself. The sheriff and the cheerleaders clash at first, but, of course, come to understand each other at the end.

Everything about the movie is obvious and unfunny. A scene at the beginning has Tommy Lee Jones reach into the backside of a cow and remove a cell phone, which is revolting. The humor rarely reaches beyond what you might find in a high school comedy sketch, and stoops so low as to include a scene with the grizzled old man wearing a mud masque and cucumber slices over his eye. Even an infant would roll his eyes.

There is a smattering of foul language but nothing excessive. Some scenes take place in a church but are neither religious nor anti-religious. It is hard to find any satirical meaning in them, even though they’re goofy. The violence is weak compared to a typical action movie but too strong for a comedy, especially one which should appeal to young girls. That’s the $1 million question: To whom does this movie appeal? It is too bland for teenagers but too facile for adults. The plot is too minimal for an action movie, but the dialogue is too lazy and haphazard for a true comedy.

MAN OF THE HOUSE will come and go quickly, and hopefully few people will be subjected to its pathetic boringness.