“Deliver Us From Eva” (Focus Films)
LL Cool J has all the moves of a “player” in the new movie “Deliver Us From Eva,” but then he lets his inner soft side show. This helps makes “Eva” a good old-fashioned love story told with a hip-hop beat.
The movie focuses on the four Dandridge sisters. Their mother and father are killed in a car wreck and so big sister Eva (Gabrielle Union) has to raise her three younger sisters. When they reach adulthood she has a hard time letting go. This means she keeps her nose in their business and this does not sit well with the three men in the sisters’ lives.
The guys decide Eva has to go so they hire nice looking and cool guy Ray (LL Cool J). They want him to romance Eva and get her out of town. He agrees and starts making his moves. But don’t you know he is going to fall for Eva and mess up all the laid out plans!
LL Cool J is perfect for the role of Ray. He is soft spoken and gentlemanly acting. He looks good enough to attract her but seems sensitive enough to want what is best for her. He is Mr. Cool in more ways than one.
As Eva, Gabrielle Union is feisty and formidable. She is more than a match for Ray and has all the right moves to rope him into her heart. If Union weren’t so good looking and so tart and tasty the role would not work.
The supporting cast is excellent and the musical background is right on the money. It accents what is happening on the screen. This is a mood movie and the music helps the mood.
The film is rated R for profanity and some sexual situations.
You don’t always get a love story when LL Cool J is the star. A lot of the time it is more action than heart, but not with “Deliver Us From Eva.” He and Union make a perfect couple and tell a story that wins us over from start to finish.
Don’t let anyone “deliver you” from “Deliver Us From Eva.” It is a movie worth seeing and enjoying.
I scored “Deliver Us From Eva” an undeliverable 6 out of 10.
©2003 Jackie K. Cooper
