Man of the House (2005)

I love this movie so much

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

If "Agent K" from "Men in Black" had to go undercover by himself with some cheerleaders that needed to be protected at all costs you would get "Man of the House". Maybe I'm simply losing my mind because of too many bad movies, but I found Tommy Lee Jones to be very funny in what is otherwise an average comedy. Thankfully, it's like the movie knows it's just a couple of bad jokes from turning into total trash so it barely focuses on the cheerleaders that need to be protected, instead of focusing on the overall dynamics between the girls and their protector. It may not be a very good film, but it's entertaining while it lasts and it has a few twists you won't see coming, making it a fun, if forgettable comedy (it really could have used some aliens to spice it up). (On DVD, July 20, 2012)

Ranger Roland Sharp (Tommy Lee Jones) loses a witness to a big time case. Only a bunch of University of Texas cheerleaders (Christina Milian, Paula Garcés, Monica Keena, Vanessa Ferlito, Kelli Garner) can identify the witness killer as Agent Eddie Zane (Brian Van Holt). Now Ranger Sharp must pose as a cheerleader coach to protect the girls.TLJ is doing his 'The Fugitive' character. The movie is counting on that TLJ with a bunch of scantily clad giggly cheerleaders is enough to make the audience laugh. It's not enough. The good news is that everybody is likable nice characters. The bad news is that none of them has a sufficient funny bone in their bodies.

Tommy Lee Jones is perfectly out of place in the house full of cheerleaders, though I think there were opportunities for many more laughs here. Somehow the plot involving the crime boss that explains TLJ's predicament comes across as an afterthought that merely eats into the entertainment.There are some great moments from Cedric, but here again I'm not convinced the movie needs him. The cheerleaders are more than entertaining enough.Best of all we have Barb, superbly played by the wonderful Kelli Garner. She has a touch of Marilyn Monroe about her, which is about as good a compliment as I can give her. I expect her to go far.Not too taxing, witty and well played.

Tommy Lee Jones is well cast and a positive presence in every movie, and all but one of the five cheerleaders are attractive, but MOTH is far too formulaic and predictable to be fulfilling viewing. Perhaps I'm too jaded, having seen far too many formula comedies, so maybe this is quite an entertaining film for 15 year-olds, and I don't mean this in a nasty way. Some of the gags and situations are so foreseeable that you can sniff them out a mile ahead.Nevertheless, a pleasant enough action comedy which would have been better without its obligatory DULL crime plot. Why does nearly every single movie have to have a cops-and-robbers (sub-)plot? So many of these writers are too lazy to write an all-out comedy, so they waste everyone's time with pointless crime stuff.The one cheerleader I didn't like was Vanessa Farlito, "Butterfly" in "Death Proof". What a damn mug! SPOILER coming up: Oh yeah, and the bad gay just happens to be an FBI agent... Yawn...