Life 1999
Life ★★½ 1999 (R)
New Yorkers Ray (Murphy) and Claude (Lawrence) head south on a moonshine run to pay off a debt to a bootlegger (James). Along the way, ther're framed for murder and sen tenced to life on a Mississippi prison farm. Through the years, the two develop a deep, but insult-filled friendship while ad justing to prison life and harboring dreams of freedom. Murphy and Lawrence click well as a comic team, and the movie is best when it stays out of their way. The institutionalized racism of the setting is treated superficially, with the prison ap pearing to be, despite the slave-like work and gun-toting guards, not an entirely horrible place to live. 108m/C VHS, DVD . Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence, Ned Beatty, Cicely Tyson, Clarence Williams III, Obba Babatunde, Bernie Mac, Michael “Bear” Taliferro, Miguel A. Nunez Jr., Bokeem Woodbine, Barry (Shabaka) Henley, Brent Jennings, Guy Torry, Lisa Nicole Carson, O'Neal Compton, Poppy Montgomery, Ned Vaughn, R. Lee Ermey, Nick Cassavetes, Noah Emmerich, Anthony Anderson, Rick James; D: Ted (Edward) Demme; W: Robert Ramsey, Matthew Stone; C: Geoffrey Simpson; M: Nelust Wyclef Jean.