Main Cast: LL Cool J, Gabrielle Union, Duane Martin, Essence Atkins, Robinne Lee
Release Year: 2002
Country: US
Run Time: 105 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Three men discover that meddling in their sister-in-law's love life only makes their own lives more complicated in this romantic comedy. Eva Dandridge (Gabrielle Union) developed a sense of responsibility early on in life, when after the death of her parents she was left to care for her three younger sisters, Kareenah (Essence Atkins), Bethany (Robinne Lee), and Jacqui (Meagan Good). All four of the Dandridge sisters have grown up to be attractive, intelligent, and successful; Kareenah is happily married to Tim (Mel Jackson), while Bethany is engaged to Michael (Duane Martin), and Jacqui is going steady with Darrell (Dartanyan Edmonds). However, Eva still watches over her siblings like a hawk, and while her sisters love Eva dearly, Tim, Michael, and Darrell wish their sister-in-law would stay out of their business. The guys decide that if Eva had a boyfriend, she might be less interested in running other people's lives, and they turn to Ray (LL Cool J), a notorious ladies' man, for help. Ray is short on cash, so the guys make him a deal -- they'll give him 5,000 dollars to romance Eva, sweep her off her feet, and then dump her a few weeks later. Ray agrees, and while getting past her no-nonsense demeanor takes some doing, before long she's head over heels for him. However, Ray unexpectedly finds himself falling in love with Eva, and Eva, when offered a job in another town, decides to stay on to be with Ray. Even worse, the other Dandridge sisters are so impressed with the romantic Ray that they start demanding a bit more TLC from their own men. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
More than just a clever title, the intelligent Deliver Us From Eva delivers the goods for those in search of an African-American relationship comedy. Writer/director Gary Hardwick does revisit some of the mild misogyny of his debut, The Brothers, in the person of Eva Dandridge, a domineering shrew who makes life hell for the boyfriends/husbands of her three sisters. But at least there's a warm comedic core to Gabrielle Union's portrayal of the uncompromising health inspector, which features some great facial expressions and sharp-tongued rants, and Hardwick makes sure he eventually reveals the reasons behind her rigidity. Hardwick also oversees a winning rapport between Union and LL Cool J, whose own less-than-ideal character -- a mercenary player -- indicates Hardwick's interest in seeing both genders get their comeuppance. What keeps the film basically subtle is that it illustrates the characters' various stumbling blocks without resorting to ridiculous set pieces or insulting caricatures. The film recognizes what works in other films, perhaps to a fault -- it goes outside its basic relationship structure to cop a few vicarious good vibes from Barbershop, as the sisters meet in a salon and interact with its eccentric denizens for no real plot reason. (And if you stay through the credits, there's a revelation about one of these characters that undercuts Hardwick's apparent enlightenment). If only the third act didn't revolve around a plot contrivance that the characters would need to take idiot pills to believe, Deliver Us From Eva might be better than just a good addition to its genre. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Meagan Good - Jacqui; Mel Jackson - Tim; Dartanyan Edmonds - Darrell; Kym E. Whitley - Ormandy; Royale Watkins - Telly; Matt Winston - Oscar; Ruben Paul - Rashaun; Dorian Gregory - Lucius Johnson; Kenya Moore - Renee; Jazsmin Lewis - Lori; Stephen Saux - Bartender; Johnny Gill; Mark Swenson - Earl; Yuri Brown - Cynda
Credit
Bill Hiney - Art Director, Reuben Cannon - Casting, Kim Williams - Casting, Debrae Little - Costume Designer, Rip Murray - First Assistant Director, Gary Hardwick - Director, Earl Watson - Editor, Barry Levinson - Executive Producer, Paula Weinstein - Executive Producer, Marcus Miller - Composer (Music Score), Alison Ball - Musical Direction/Supervision, David Lombard - Musical Direction/Supervision, Edward Mcavoy - Production Designer, Alexander Gruszynski - Cinematographer, Paddy Cullen - Producer, Len Amato - Producer, Jan Pascale - Set Designer, Russell Williams II - Sound/Sound Designer, Gary Hardwick - Screenwriter, James Iver Mattson - Screenwriter, B. E. Brauner - Screenwriter, Denzil Foster - Featured Music
The Dandridge sisters, Evangeline (Eva for short), Kareenah, Bethany and Jacqui live in the northern United States. While Eva does not have a significant other, her sisters do. Eva, who works for the city's health department as an inspector, is bossy and believes only she knows what's best for herself and her sisters and cannot get along at all with their husbands/boyfriends. When the four sisters band together to protect a family inheritance it is the last straw. The men turn to Ray Adams (LL Cool J), a fudge packing trucker, to solve their problem, paying him to keep Eva busy and out of their respective lives. Unfortunately for Ray, he falls in love with Eva at first sight, but she proves to have a tart tongue and suspicious nature. Adams patiently begins to bring her around to the idea of a romantic relationship, even as she toys with the idea of leaving the city.
Eva and Ray fall hopelessly in love with each other, and Eva even temporarily abandons her shrewish ways. But Ray's friends panic and attempt to break up the blossoming romance, claiming their wives never let them hear the end of the latest with Eva and Ray, and that Eva intends to stay in the city. Things get so complicated that the men finally hatch a daring plan: kidnap Ray, lie to Eva about his death in an accident and cajole her into leaving the city. Eva believes them and arranges a tearful funeral for her "dead" boyfriend, but in the middle of the service Ray appears, having escaped his prison, and the whole truth comes out. An angry Eva dumps Ray, leaves the city and resolves to start a new life. But Ray hasn't quite given up. He shows up at Eva's job on a white horse and persuades her to forgive him. She agrees to marry him, split up the inheritance, and apologizes for her interference in her sisters' relationships.
