There's plenty of smart comedy here, but the filmmakers are unable to resist dumb slapstick and unnecessarily zany side stories. The humiliations of racial stereotypes can be both funny and telling, but not when taken to these ludicrous extremes. It just gets eye-rollingly silly, which isn't really a surprise from the guy who directed the dire The Wedding Planner and the even worse A Walk to Remember. And some of the peripheral characters are painful stereotypes, such as White's nosy neighbour, Harris' brutal gangsta and, worst of all, Pyle's slutty ex-sister-in-law (who at least provides the screen's most screamingly funny catfight since the glory days of Dynasty's Krystal and Alexis). No, what makes the film work is the genius comic timing of Martin, Latifah and Levy, performers unafraid to go over the top for a laugh while keeping their characters rooted firmly on the ground. They're so much fun to watch that we find ourselves ignoring the film's overall lameness. And as a result, this somehow becomes one of the funniest, most endearing films in recent memory.