Martin Lawrence Live: Runteldat (2002)

Not having been a fan of Lawrence's previous concert film You So Crazy -- or, for that matter, anything he's done in the last five years -- I approached this film with no small amount of trepidation. But ya know what? This film's actually pretty damn chuckle-worthy. Lawrence still has trouble maintaining his comic timing, and he still doesn't know not to overstretch an already-unfunny bit (i.e. the confessional-drunk bit here -- not as torturous as the see-ya-when-I-see-ya bit from Crazy, but still labored), but his material is sharper here than it's ever been. Drawing from his failed marriage and his various well-publicized run-ins with the authorities, he spits out a comic catharsis that turns out laceratingly funny. And even though he still hamstrings himself with scatology for scatology's sake, he does let loose with a breast-worship routine that had me rolling. He's still no Richard Pryor, but at least this represents a step in the right direction.

Grade: B-