Bringing Down the House

"Everything he needed to know about life, she learned in prison."

Mar 7 2003 PG-13 1h 45m
Comedy

Uptight lawyer Peter Sanderson wants to dive back into dating after his divorce and has a hard time meeting the right women. He tries online dating and lucks out when he starts chatting with a fellow lawyer. The two agree to meet in the flesh, but the woman he meets — an escaped African-American convict named Charlene — is not what he expected. Peter is freaked out, but Charlene tries to convince him to take her case and prove her innocence. Along the way, she wreaks havoc on his middle-class life as he gets a lesson in learning to lighten up.

Plot

Peter Sanderson (Steve Martin) is a divorced, straight-laced, uptight attorney who still loves his ex-wife and can't figure out what he did wrong to make her leave him. However, Peter's trying to move on, and he's smitten with a brainy, bombshell lawyer with whom he's been chatting on-line. However, when she comes to his house for their first face-to-face, she isn't refined, isn't Ivy League, and isn't even a lawyer. Instead, it's Charlene Morton (Queen Latifah), a prison escapee who's proclaiming her innocence and wants Peter to help her clear her name. But Peter wants nothing to do with her, prompting the loud and shocking Charlene to turn Peter's perfectly ordered life upside down, jeopardizing his effort to get back with his wife, and win a billion-dollar client.

Written by

Jason Filardi

Directed by

Adam Shankman

Cast

Steve Martin, Queen Latifah, Eugene Levy

Crew

View crew

Production Countries

United States of America

Production Companies

Hyde Park Films, Touchstone Pictures

Languages

English, Français

Awards

4 wins & 13 nominations

Trailers
Bringing Down The House DVD Trailer
Scores
# of Votes
40,099
Average Rating
5.6 out of 10
Metascore
39
Popularity
NA