''Livin' Large!'' is a 1991 comedy film starring Terrence "T.C." Carson, Lisa Arrindell Anderson, and

Loretta Devine Loretta Devine (born August 21, 1949) is an American actress. She is known for numerous roles across stage and screen. Her most high profile roles include Lorrell Robinson in the original Broadway production of ''Dreamgirls'' (1981), Gloria Mat ...

Plot

Dexter Jackson (Carson) is a young, black deliveryman in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, who aspires to become a news reporter. He gets what he considers his big break when he drives up to a hostage situation. When the reporter on the scene is killed, Dexter steps in and confronts the hostage-taker, who threatens to kill himself on live television. However, Dexter talks the man out of it, and ratings-obsessed executive producer Kate Penndragin (

Blanche Baker Blanche Baker (born December 20, 1956) is an American actress. She won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actress for her work in the television miniseries ''Holocaust''. Baker is known for her role as Gi ...

) offers Dexter a reporter position at ''News 4 Atlanta''. A recurring gag throughout the film involves Jackson seeing himself on TV with notably different facial features, i.e. thinner lips, straight hair, and a lighter complexion. As Kate tries to transform Dexter's urban image (mainly his

dreadlocks Dreadlocks, also known as dreads or locs, are a Hairstyle, hairstyle made of rope-like strands of matted hair. Dreadlocks can form naturally in Hair#Texture, very curly hair, or they can be created with techniques like twisting, Backcombing, ba ...

, clothing, and vocabulary), he begins questioning whether he's starting to sell out as he becomes more and more successful. In other words, he wonders whether becoming successful also means becoming "white". Although Dexter begins to fulfill his dream, he also starts forgetting where he came from and begins destroying his important relationships. He alienates those close to him with tabloid-style exposé stories, such as a local barber's illegal

numbers racket The numbers game, also known as the numbers racket, the Italian lottery, Mafia lottery, or the daily number, is a form of illegal gambling or illegal lottery played mostly in poor and working-class neighborhoods in the United States, wherein a ...

and a restaurant's unhealthy cooking style. Dexter loses his

fiancée An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be ''fi ...

, Toynelle (Arrindell Anderson), after a night on the town results in him spending the night with ditzy weather forecaster Missy Carnes (

Julia Campbell Julia Campbell (March 12, 1963) is an American actress. She began her career starring in the daytime television soap operas ''Ryan's Hope'' and '' Santa Barbara'', before playing the lead in the short-lived sitcom ''Women in Prison'' (1987–1988 ...

). Dexter also betrays his best friend and narrator Baker Moon ( Nathaniel 'Afrika' Hall) by revealing a local criminal's plan to commit

grand theft auto ''Grand Theft Auto'' (''GTA'') is an action-adventure video game series created by David Jones and Mike Dailly. Later titles were developed under the oversight of brothers Dan and Sam Houser, Leslie Benzies and Aaron Garbut. It is prima ...

, a plan Baker secretly confided to Dexter. As a result of the report, Baker winds up in the hospital. After longtime anchor Clifford Worthy (

Bernie McInerney Bernie McInerney (born December 4, 1936) is an American character actor. Personal life McInerney grew up in Delaware where his father was an auditor with the DuPont Company. McInerney came to acting at a young age, announcing the World Series d ...

) loses it on the air, Kate promotes Dexter to lead anchor and teams him with Missy, much to his chagrin. Kate also arranges a live marriage between the two, which she plans to exploit for ratings. However, in the end, Dexter comes to his senses and calls off the wedding, deciding to go back to Toynelle. Finally admitting his fault for the entire ordeal, he publicly apologizes to those he stepped over. Dexter finally (and truly) reaches his goal, becoming co-anchor at ''News 4 Atlanta'', alongside Clifford Worthy.

Cast

* Terrence "T.C." Carson - Dexter Jackson * Lisa Arrindell Anderson - Toynelle Davis *

- Kate Penndragin * Nathaniel Hall - Baker Moon *

- Missy Carnes *

- Clifford Worthy *

- Nadine Biggs *

Ted Henning Ted Henning is an American video game and animation producer, and former stage, television, and film actor, producer, and screenwriter. Acting and writing career Early roles - Stage acting and voice work Early acting work includes the Off-B ...

- Fabian Marks

Critical response

Film critic

Desson Howe Desson Patrick Thomson is a speechwriter, journalist and film critic. He was a speechwriter for the Obama administration and film critic for ''The Washington Post''. He was known as Desson Howe until 2003 when he changed his name after reunitin ...

wrote in ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' that the movie is "too bland to be offensive" and "mediocre pap" with a "heavy-hitting theme

hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...

is a smokescreen for an absence of fire," that it "retreads all-too-familiar territory," and noted that "You don't need a lifetime of sitcom TV viewing to see where this is going. But you'll need it to buy the one-note characters." Writing in the ''

Austin Chronicle Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

'', critic Marjorie Baumgarten described the film as a "morality tale

is pretty predictable and uninspired ..delivered with some fresh zip by its central cast," but noted that "you can't escape this creepy feeling that the people involved with inventing this story are none too wild about women as a category of people."

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

described the film as "beginning with a terrific idea for a movie, and then works hard, and successfully, to whittle it down to the level of a brainless sitcom."

Box office

The movie was released September 20, 1991, in the US. It opened at #4 at the box office, grossing $2.1 million. Its total domestic gross was just under $5.5 million.

References

External links

* * {{Michael Schultz 1991 films 1991 comedy films 1990s English-language films African-American comedy films Films directed by Michael Schultz Films scored by Herbie Hancock The Samuel Goldwyn Company films 1990s American films English-language comedy films