Reviewer's grade: C

 

Quick, roll up the welcome mat. Martin Lawrence, the star of "Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins," is a talented comic actor, but neither he nor his first-rate supporting cast "? including Mike Epps, Cedric the Entertainer, Michael Clarke Duncan, Mo'Nique, James Earl Jones and Joy Bryant "? are done any favors in this limp comedy.

 

Writer/director Malcolm D. Lee ("Undercover Brother") settles for another in a long line of comedies about dysfunctional families and the poor schlubs who must suffer them. Roscoe is a popular TV self-help doctor who returns to his Georgia hometown for his parents' 50th wedding anniversary, only to find that fame and fortune haven't earned him an iota of respect from the family. Of course, respect is the last thing you'd expect in a picture brimming with fat jokes, a spraying skunk and an ongoing gag about copulating dogs. PG-13

 

"?Phil Bacharach 

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