You So Crazy

You So Crazy changed my mind about Martin Lawrence. Hardly considering myself a Lawrence fan or a fan of his TV show Martin, and fairly appalled by his now-notorious Saturday Night Live monologue on feminine hygiene, the idea of a feature-length performance film had me worried. I have to confess that this movie caused me to revise my thinking. Up 'til now, I had merely regarded Lawrence as a gutter-mouthed misogynist whose juvenile humor entertained his boyz in a schoolyard fashion. And, yes, that's part of who Martin Lawrence is. But I discovered that Lawrence ultimately targets all social groups for equal offense. No one is immune, though admittedly, women and sex are on his mind a great deal. When a bit like that SNL monologue (which was a variation on a segment performed in the film) is heard alone, the effect is much more vicious and vindictive than when heard in the context of an extended performance that has some build-up and balance. Certainly there will be many who find his material disgusting, no matter what context they hear it in. But Lawrence trashes men nearly as equally as women. (About the only topic safe from his ridicule appears to be his dear mother.) I also discovered that Lawrence is a deft physical comedian with a frenetic but well-honed style that commands the stage and hardly pauses to come up for air. Watching him work the stage is exciting because he does it with such animation and control. The film's camerawork also helped reveal Lawrence in his best light, always choosing the right angle at the right time. Still, there's no getting away from the fact that his language is littered with foulspeak (which, even if you don't find offense at the words, per se, you may find it a shame that his vocabulary is so limited and repetitive) and his subject matter is commonly less than polite. Originally rated NC-17, the movie's original distributor was contractually forbidden to handle it, so it passed to another company which is distributing it unrated. As a white, over-40 woman, I presumably am not part of Lawrence's target audience. But if he can win over someone like me, think what he can do with a hip-hop crew.