After watching "Big Momma's House", one thing becomes perfectly clear - Martin Lawrence is a deeply irritating actor. Balanced by the charismatic Will Smith in "Bad Boys", the hyperactive Lawrence was in his element as the dweeby sidekick. However, now he's trying to do his leading man thing, it's blatantly obvious that he doesn't have the pathos to carry it off.

That said, the audience around this reviewer were guffawing with laughter throughout this movie, which sees Lawrence as Malcolm - an FBI agent who whacks on latex and fat suit to go undercover as the lardy granny of a witness (Nia Long), who arrives at her Deep South home with her son (Washington), to hide from her psychopathic boyfriend.

Aping his hero Eddie Murphy, Lawrence looks pretty good in his makeup, but the humour too often relies on shouting, while the more pedantic amongst you might also consider the endless jokes at the expense of fat people just a touch offensive.

To give him his due, there are some gigglesome moments, but ultimately, your enjoyment of "Big Momma's House" comes down to one thing: can you stand Lawrence as a bona fide lead? If the answer's "yes", chuckle away. If not, prepare for a pretty tortuous 98 minutes.