The best thing about the the movie is, surprisingly enough, Martin Lawrence. As a matter of fact, it seemed like he knew the direction this movie shoulda gone while Eddie Murphy, as much as I like his work, did not. Martin Lawrence was subdued in his performance, and in a very low-key way, he stole the movie from Murphy. Lawrence was funny when he needed to be, but he was also serious when he needed to be. Eddie Murphy was a comedian the whole time. This may have been the fault of director Ted Demme, though. Demme (the nephew of "Silence of the Lambs" director, Jonathan Demme) has directed good movies such as "The Ref" and "Beautiful Girls," but with "Life," he has a near miss, a movie that coulda been great.
"Life" was written by Robert Ramsey and Matthew Stone, whose last work together was the crappy "Destiny Turns on the Radio" (please God, don't let Quentin Tarantino act anymore). I think the script coulda probably used a rewrite by someone who has a knack for serious drama, as long as that writer maintained some of the more comedic elements. Don't get me wrong, there are a couple of pretty powerful moments (one is almost entirely due to Martin Lawrence's facial expressions... but when he DOES speak, it kills the moment).
Comparisons
to "The Shawshank Redemption" are inevitable, but really, there IS no comparison.
"Life" doesn't even come close. But you Do get some really funny moments,
and when Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence have the heavy make-up on, the
laughs come quickly... but I'm not so sure it was worth it.