Local Talent: Gabrielle Union in Deliver Us from Eva

Welcome back for Day 2 of Local Talent. Our next actor may have left the Husker lands in search of acting gigs and while that does happen you cannot fault Omaha from holding her up as a beacon of talent. Graduated with honors from UCLA, voted #52 in Maxim's 100 Sexist Women, this girl was performing below her capabilities. Now going through her filmography she has been a femme fatale, other woman character actor for more than a few films. The whole let's use this girl for her looks rather than any depth in acting cliche'. Until I came across the romantic comedy giving her center stage and brother let me just say, "She took it and ran with it." This is Deliver Us From Eva.

There is a corner pocket joke but I will behave.

Evangeline 'Eva' Dandrige (Gabrielle Union of City of Angels, Two Can Play That Game, Abandon, Cradle 2 the Grave, Bad Boys II, Flashforward and Being Mary Jane) is part of the Health Department in Los Angeles as an inspector which works for her very perfectionist nature and bossy demeanor. Everything and everyone should be just so for the world to be in order. Her order. Eva drives her sisters Kareenah (Essence Atkins of Here and Now, Under One Roof, Malibu Shores, Smart Guy, Half & Half, Love for Sale, My Sister's Wedding and Girlfriends' Getaway), Bethany (Robinne Lee of National Security, Hitch, Seven Pounds, 13 Going on 30 and Forgiveness) and Jacqui (Meagan Good of Miles From Home, One Missed Call, Saw V, The Unborn, Californication, Deception and A Girl Like Grace) to bettering their lives.  She constantly judges her sisters by their choices in life as well as in men. This close connection is due to them basically raising themselves after the death of their parents so older sister Eva's words of wisdom and advice holds great weight for the girls.

Damn, Union got booty fellas.

Our collective boys: Tim (Mel Jackson of Soul Food, The Temptations, Where Is Love Waiting, Abduction of Jesse Bookman and Four Seasons), Mike (Duane Martin of White Men Can't Jump, Above the Rim. Any Given Sunday, All of Us, Rita Rocks, The Paul Reiser Show and Sister Code) and Darrell (Dartanyan Edmonds of Ride, Woo, Bulworth, A Thin Line Between Love and Hate, Trippin', Rangers and NYPD Blue) are losing their damn minds, not getting any quality time, privacy and in general lives of their own with Eva popping by whenever. Fed up with this, the fellas feel they need a player to seduce Eva and get her out of their hair. Mike calls his boy Ray (LL Cool J of Toys, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, Deep Blue Sea, In the House, Rollerball, S.W.A.T., Last Holiday and NCIS: Los Angeles), offers him 5 grand to make this spoiled princess bounce for a few so they can get their own. Okay, I cannot write this dated street lingo worth a damn. Ray agrees to the deal, meets Eva for dinner for what can only be considered as "THE DATE FROM HELL." and throws the boys' lettuce back at them saying she is impossible.

Later Ray bumps into Eva delivering meat to the local restaurants and offers an olive branch and the two look like they are forming a friendship to a relationship. The sisters start seeing Ray and Eva as the ideal couple but notice how their own relationships aren't as solid and the boys are back in hot water. Rather than be grown-ups, owning up to their faults and striving to be better men (Like we all should, fellas.), they choose an elaborate plan to fake Ray's death so it will convince Eva to leave the city and go elsewhere and out of their lives.

Does the plan succeed? Will they have to actually kill Ray? What the hell is going on?

This film feels like a take on Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew and about seeing people for who they really are. It has heart and soul and some really good lines. This film also showcases both Gabrielle and LL in starring roles rather than the typical stereotypes they have both played in the past. It is fun, wrong and entertaining. Give it a view. Rated R for a bit of language and some implied sex but other than that, hell the kids can watch it.

I am not mugging...well maybe a bit.