The Cookout

The Cookout is a 2004 comedy film, directed by Lance Rivera. It is co-written by and features Queen Latifah, and is also the feature film debut for her mother Rita Owens. This was the last film for Farrah Fawcett before her death in 2009.

Plot
When Todd Anderson (played by Quran Pender) has just signed a 5-year/$30 million contract with his hometown basketball team the New Jersey Nets, he purchases many new luxuries for himself and his family including a new house in a well established, high class neighborhood for him and his gold digging girlfriend Brittany (played by Meagan Good). Keeping with family tradition, he decides to host a regular family reunion cookout in his new place, however, not planning for it to clash with an important business meeting for an endorsement deal.

Meanwhile, Bling Bling (played by Ja Rule) is jealous that Todd has made it with his basketball contract after being insulted and embarrassed in front of the neighborhood when Todd did not recognize who he was. He plans to get many pairs of sneakers signed by the upcoming star to sell on eBay and become rich. Whilst on his way to Todd's new house, he crashes his car due to his clumsy friend and then tries to steal a new Mercedes from a parking garage without realizing the car belongs to Todd's girlfriend Brittany. After finding out he holds her at gunpoint and forces her to drive him there.

Although the meeting is scheduled to take place in the morning, and the guests are to arrive in the afternoon, one by one members of Todd's eccentric family begin to arrive before expected disrupting his business interview. The neighbors are drawn to the cookout, and Todd is concerned mainly about his image, as his family's antics are making a poor impression on his neighbors.

When Bling Bling and his criminal sidekick invade the cookout so they can get Todd's autograph, the ensuing chaos makes Todd realize how much he needs his family. He realizes that he loves the family for the way they are and gets a shock by the endorsement interviewer. Todd breaks up with Brittney and marries Becky (Eve) and scores 26 points in his debut in New Jersey.

Cast

 * Quran Pender &mdash; Todd Andersen (credited as Storm P.)
 * Jenifer Lewis &mdash; Lady Em/Emma Andersen
 * Meagan Good &mdash; Brittany
 * Ja Rule &mdash; Bling Bling/Percival Ashmokeem
 * Jonathan Silverman &mdash; Wes Riley
 * Tim Meadows &mdash; Leroy
 * Farrah Fawcett &mdash; Mrs. Crowley
 * Ruperto Vanderpool &mdash; Wheezer
 * Frankie Faison &mdash; JoJo Andersen
 * Vincent Pastore &mdash; Horse salesman (credited as "Poo Salesman")
 * Eve &mdash; Becky
 * Danny Glover &mdash; Judge Crowley
 * Queen Latifah &mdash; Security Guard
 * Roberto Roman &mdash; Danny
 * Reg E. Cathey --- Frank Washington
 * Wilhelm Lewis --- Wayne
 * Jerod Mixon &mdash; Willie
 * Jamal Mixon &mdash; Nelson
 * Gerry Bamman &mdash; Butler
 * Wendy Williams &mdash; Piers Gabriel
 * Mark Cuban as himself
 * Marv Albert as himself

Box office
The film opened on 1,303 screens, and opened at #8 in the box office with a gross of $5,000,900. After seven weeks, it ended with a domestic gross of $11,814,019 and made $195,051 from foreign countries, for a total of $12,009,070 world-wide.

Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film received a rating 5%, based on 41 reviews, with the consensus reading, "Good-natured but prepared with an absence of craft, The Cookout is an unappetizing collection of warmed-over jokes." On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 15 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".

Sequel
On September 3, 2011, a sequel, The Cookout 2 premiered on BET. Quran Pender, Ja Rule and Frankie Faison were the only cast members to reprise their roles. Despite the title, the plot itself is not about a cook-out at all. Talk show host Wendy Williams had a brief cameo as reporter Piers Gabriel in the original. In the sequel, she makes a special guest appearance as herself. Charlie Murphy co-stars in the film as Coach Ashmokeem, the brother of Bling Bling (Rule). Rapper Rick Ross also makes a special guest appearance in the film.