E-Mail This Article to a Friend THE COOKOUT

Todd Anderson (Quran Pender) has been made the NBA’s #1 draft pick. Against his close-knit family’s wishes, Todd goes on an understandable spending spree, buying a big house in a mostly white, gated community and, with the help of his golddigging girlfriend (Meagan Good), generally forgetting where he’s from. His family, in all their eccentricity, show up for a cookout to remind him. Director Lance Rivera raises some legitimate questions about moving up versus selling out and the commodification of professional athletes, but he couldn’t care less about answering them. Instead, he clutters the screen with mild gags that might pass on the less demanding television sit-coms. Queen Latifah, who also produced, shows up as an over-zealous security guard, and Eve and Ja Rule make cameos. The large ensemble cast is solid, but the show mostly belongs to Jenifer Lewis as the matriarch, a formidable woman who knows where she came from and isn’t afraid to remind her son. A woman like that should probably demand a better movie. (85 minutes)