rated r starring eddie murphy , martin lawrence , obba batabunde , lisa nicole carson , nick cassavettes , noah emmerich , bokeem woodbine , clarence williams iii written by robert ramsey & matthew stone directed by ted demme life , ted demme's wonderful new film , falls prey to the predator called marketing . anyone who has seen the film's trailer and/or poster will simply dismiss the film as another dumb eddie murphy or martin lawrence vehicle , either filled with offensive jokes or strictly for the kids . such things happen when an actors become typecast , as eddie murphy and martin lawrence have , but their new film , life , is as expansive as it's title indicates . ray and claude ( murphy and lawrence , respectively ) , two practical strangers living in harlem , meet when they are forced to retrieve many cases of beer for the local kingpin , spanky , because of debts they each owe . as they travel down to mississippi , they lose all of their money gambling to a hotshot whom they later find dead right in front of their eyes . the man was beaten to death by a cop , but the hicks who find the two black men suspect him immediately , and before they know it they are sentenced to prison for life ; hence the title . the mississippi state prison of life is a fairly lenient one . the prison is actually a large farm with no gates , but a boundary called the " gun line " . ray and claude form an unlikely partnership , even though claude still blames ray for getting them into the prison . among the colleagues they meet , the most memorable ones ( i forget his name , but it's long ) is a silent man ( bokeem woodbine ) who , because of his baseball ablility , is able to escape the prison for the negro leagues , and a homosexual inmate who is granted a pardon but decides to commit suicide instead of letting his parents see what's happened to him while in jail . as ray and claude get older , the film begins to grow on the viewer more and more . after a few failed escape attempts during their lifetime , the two men are beginning to ponder their own existence and wonder why they're wasting their time . but they never lose hope . these qualities of the film , among others , compare favorably with the oscar winning italian film life is beautiful . like life is beautiful , life's characters try to provide humor and dreams to get them through their suffering . ray sparks the interest of his cellmates when they all begin to dream about their place in ray's boom boom room , a nightclub in which they all play their own little part . ray and claude help prove the universal theory that hope and faith can get anyone through the worst of times . director ted demme ( beautiful girls , monument ave . ) , nephew of director jonathan demme ( silence of the lambs , philadelphia ) lets his actors shine in roles that flaunt their dramatic and comedic acting abilities . the film never really addresses subjects like racism head-on , but the film does , in a much deeper way , help unite a feeling of peace , instead of violence . the film then ends on a happy note , before subjecting the viewer to the unneccesary outtakes . but life is still one of the year's most unexpected surprises . the film pulls no punches in getting it's way to your heart , and it proves that life , though not always beautiful , is always worth living . a review by akiva gottlieb , the teenage movie critic <a href= " mailto : akiva@excite . com " >akiva@excite . com</a> <a href= " http : //www . angelfire . com/mo/film " >http : //www . angelfire . com/mo/film</a> watch me on tbs' " dinner and a movie " may 21 , 8 : 05pm est <hr>get your free , private email at <a href= " http : //mail . excite . com/ " >http : //mail . excite . com/</a> 
