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Cedric the Entertainer, Lucy Liu. Action/comedy. Written by David Rotman, Ryan Oxford. Directed by Les Mayfield.

FILM SYNOPSIS: A janitor awakens in a swanky hotel and discovers another guy in the bed – dead! On the floor is a briefcase full of money. Suffering from amnesia, he is unaware that the day before he discovered some nefarious goings-on where he works. But before the baddies can kill him, they must retrieve a micro chip he doesn’t realize he has. Befriended by two beautiful women, one claiming to be his wife, and being chased for an unknown reason, our hero decides he must be a secret agent. Comic situations mixed with chase scenes and provocative come-ons from the beautiful women ensue.

PREVIEW REVIEW: There seems to be a difference of opinion, here. I thought the film was a snoozer, whereas the audience seemed to enjoy it. I’d look around the theater (what else was there to do) and see pleasant expressions on faces, almost as if they were watching a different movie. Indeed, I seemed to be the only one bored. Well, with the exception of the groaner behind me.

The story is so implausible with its numerous situations going beyond the realm of reality that the plot becomes more sci-fi than comedic. For instance, the lead is at the Seattle airport when suddenly someone shoots through the glass window at him. No one seems to react. No High Alert. No security. No police. No nothing. He just keeps running around the airport being car-chased by the villains. In another ludicrous situation, he disguises himself as a Dutch dancer (envision a corpulent black man in wooden clogs and lederhosen – ha, ha) in order to elude the police and suddenly finds himself on stage having to perform a number with the group. No one in the dance team asks who he is, yet he’s dancing in place with them. Magically he knows the choreography. It’s pretty silly stuff.

I like Cedric the Entertainer, but in small doses. The producers mistakenly thought he was ready to take the entire burden of a movie on his shoulders. The truth is, he’s still a supporting player. He goes on persona, but lacks any true acting ability and runs short of comic ideas. For instance, he gets the wrong impression that he’s a secret agent and starts doing karate moves much like an eight-year-old who’s just seen a Jet Li movie. That may be funny – once – but five times! This isn’t a movie, it’s an unsold TV pilot.

Okay, now, about that screening audience. I think there are two reasons they seemed to be enjoying themselves. First, they got in free. It was a Wednesday night and nothing good on television. Second, they obviously like Cedric. And it’s difficult not to. As I said, he’s not much of an actor – yet – but he has a likable screen persona. Sometimes people look for a film-going experience that doesn’t test them. They just want to relax and let someone they like do all the talking. Well, in this film, Cedric does plenty of that.

Distributor: New Line Cinema