Director Lance Rivera has never directed a movie before, and he doesn’t start here.
Comment
08/07/08
The Cookout (2004)
5
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:39
Fresh:2
Rotten:37
Average Rating:2.8/10
Consensus: Good-natured but prepared with an absence of craft, The Cookout is an unappetizing collection of warmed-over jokes.
Reviews for The Cookout
Seemingly assembled from ideas on the cutting-room floor of a cancelled sitcom.
01/05/07
This is one dull party.
01/05/07
Uma “comédia” sem a menor graça que, com seus estereótipos ofensivos a brancos, negros e homossexuais, falha não só do ponto de vista cinematográfico, mas também humano.
02/09/05
...a taxing and intolerable vehicle that has all the charm of a gold-toothed rapper’s root canal. The Cookout is certainly not any food for thought.
01/19/05
It's low comedy and it's crudely made. But that's no excuse for it being dull.
10/31/04
Everything else here -- from the gross caricatures to the so-called comic mayhem -- is sour to taste.
09/19/04
Plenty of action and confusion in this wild story that culminates in a cookout.
09/14/04
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.
09/11/04
It does provide some true laughs and, incredibly, some real humanity.
09/11/04
The movie unfolds in the most perfunctory fashion. At least the food looks good.
09/11/04
Rippin' and Dippin'
09/10/04
This is one more entry in the long list of 'urban comedies' that dish out the kind of humor that would probably spark protests if the filmmakers weren't African-American.
09/09/04
Rivera and a host of screenwriters were apparently as cowed by Lady Em as Todd; she sucks up much of the screen time, and admirable though her family values may be, they're not exactly rip-roaring funny.
09/09/04
Todd's payday apparently sends comedy backward in time, and we're in the 1970s, ethno-sitcom style.
09/09/04
There might have been a decent comedy here if someone had remembered to insert some actual humor.
09/09/04
A painfully unfunny, would-be comedy.
09/08/04
Top CriticThe few high points hardly add up to enough to keep this barbecue grill from just fizzling out.
09/08/04
The pointlessness of The Cookout exudes a modicum of charm, but the simple-minded mess still lacks the wit and moral weight of an episode of Family Matters.
09/07/04
Proceeds at a rambling pace without developing much in the way of comic momentum or scoring many laugh-out-loud high points.
09/07/04
Top CriticLatest News for The Cookout
January 12, 2006:
Critical Consensus: A Regal "Holiday," A Well-Trodden "Road," A Tepid "Tristan"
This week at the movies brings us films about a risk-averse woman cutting loose ("Last Holiday"), a groundbreaking underdog basketball team ("Glory Road"),... More...
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