Welcome Home, Roscoe Jenkins(2008)

As Roscoe (Martin Lawrence) spends time with his old teenage crush, Lucinda (Nicole Ari Parker), he finds that he still has residual affections for her after all this time, and he also finds himself competing with his overachieving cousin, Clyde (Cedric the Entertainer), for her attention again, despite the fact that Lucinda is not attracted to Clyde (which all stems from the Jenkins family’s Dry Springs Obstacle Course race that Roscoe and Clyde participated in, along with the other kids in the family, back in 1985. Before the race started, the two of them made a bet with each other where they agreed that, whoever won between them, the winner would get to ask Lucinda to the upcoming Spring Formal dance at their school. Roscoe emerged victorious, but when he went to ask Lucinda to the dance, he found out that Clyde had reneged on the terms of their bet and asked Lucinda before he could [and she accepted]). Roscoe also has to deal with his fiancée, Bianca (Joy Bryant), not getting along with his family, in addition to her hyper-competitive attitude and her ever-growing jealousy towards Lucinda because she suspects that Lucinda is trying to steal him from her.

Just as the Jenkins family is about to hold another obstacle course race with the kids in the family, Roscoe brings up to Clyde how he beat him in this race years ago, and they soon get into a shouting match over it. Moments later, Roscoe Sr. (James Earl Jones) steps in and puts a stop to it, telling them that they have been at each other’s throats about that race for 20 years now, and then he decides to let them both participate in this new race (likely in the hope that, regardless of who wins, they will finally put this issue to rest). During the race, both Roscoe and Clyde do whatever they can to get the lead and stay in it, which results in some scuffles between them and them engaging in unsportsmanlike conduct with the kids. Eventually, they reach a rope wall that Roscoe’s son, Jamaal (Damani Roberts), is having difficulty climbing up on, and he pleads for his father to help him. Though Roscoe initially tries to, Bianca eventually orders him to leave Jamaal and keep Clyde from beating him, and he ends up listening to her. Roscoe goes on to defeat Clyde again, and as he acts like a sore winner about it, a downhearted Jamaal appears. He tells his son to come to him so he can join him in his celebration, but Jamaal refuses and walks away from him. As Lucinda goes after Jamaal, Roscoe Sr. approaches his son and asks him what is wrong with him. Roscoe replies that Clyde challenged him, so he stepped up to the plate, and he asks him if he was supposed to just back down. Roscoe Sr. reacts with disapproval at his son’s tone of voice and orders him to show some respect, but Roscoe angrily asks him where HIS respect is because he has never given him credit for anything that he has ever done. Roscoe Sr. tells him that, from what he has seen, he hasn’t done anything that he deserves credit for, and he adds that he feels sorry for him. Roscoe accuses his father of letting Clyde off easy again despite the fact that he, too, participated in this race, and he then tells his father that, though he knows that Clyde lost his father, he feels like he has lost his, too. Roscoe Sr. remarks that he now sees why he stayed away for nine years, then walks off with Mama (Margaret Avery). Clyde then comes up to Roscoe and tells him that, ever since his parents took him in, all he has ever done was try to fit in with his family, and he never sought to take his place in it. He also says that, although they are cousins, he sees him as a brother, and then he offers his hand to him for a handshake. However, when Roscoe tries to return it, Bianca grabs his hand and tells him that Clyde is just trying to sucker him in. Roscoe then declares that they (and Jamaal) are leaving before they both take off back to the house to start packing up their stuff.

Later that day, Roscoe makes ready to leave for the airport with Bianca, Jamaal, and Bianca’s dog Fiona, and when Mama gives him her goodbyes, she asks him not to wait for another nine years to visit her and the rest of the family again and tells him that they all love him. As Roscoe and company drive away, Roscoe Sr. is shown watching them go from his bedroom window with a look of regret on his face. Around the time they get close to the airport, Bianca suggests to Roscoe that they stage his parents’ 50th wedding anniversary banquet in Los Angeles and hire actors to play his entire family (she had originally arranged to have a professional camera crew film the actual banquet, which had an ulterior purpose of helping garner more publicity for herself and Roscoe). When Jamaal voices his disapproval over this idea, Bianca tells him that this is Team Stevens and he needs to get on board, but Jamaal replies that he is a Jenkins. Knowing that his son is right, Roscoe proceeds to feign agreement with Bianca’s idea, and after he says that they won’t even invite his family to their wedding, Bianca tells him that she is so glad that he said that, and she also remarks that a few of his relatives have no class. Just after he brings the car to a stop outside the terminal, Roscoe shows his true colors to Bianca and tells her that their relationship is over, and he thanks her for finally letting him see her for the arrogant, sex-crazed, pretentious celebrity wannabe that she is. After throwing a few insults back at him, she gets out of the car, but when she calls for Fiona to come with her, Fiona turns her head away from her, a clear sign that she is done with her as well (likely brought on – at least in part – by her falling in love with the Jenkins’ family dog, Bucky). As Roscoe and Jamaal start driving back to Dry Springs, Bianca yells that her bags are still on the roof of the car, so Roscoe unties one of the ropes and just lets the bags fall off as he goes.

That night, the wedding anniversary banquet is underway at the Dry Springs Country Club, and Clyde soon gets up on the stage and starts giving his testimonial to Roscoe Sr. and Mama. As he does so, Roscoe Sr. points out to Mama that she has barely eaten her food, and she tells him that he wishes that Roscoe was here. After he replies that Roscoe made his choice, she tells him that he didn’t give him much of one. She then goes on to say to him that he needs to be Roscoe’s father; giving Roscoe his name doesn’t make him a copy of him, or a copy of either of his siblings or even Clyde. Plus, for a boy who didn’t feel the support of his family, he is doing quite well for himself. Around this time, Clyde has started talking about Roscoe and is brought to tears thinking about him, but moments later, Roscoe appears with Jamaal. As Jamaal sits with his cousins, Roscoe gets on a microphone and tells everyone that, while he was growing up, he was beaten up, insulted, laughed at, and lost more games and competitions to Clyde that he could remember. Because of all of that, he thought that he was a loser, so he went away and transform himself into what he thought was a winner. However, being around his family again these past few days has been a reality check for him; they were rough on him and pulled no punches with him about anything. However, he is thankful to all of them because they helped make him a better man and gave him the strength to withstand whatever the world threw at him, and he is also thankful to them for giving him unconditional love and a place to call “home.” He then wishes his parents a happy anniversary and tells them that he loves them. After Roscoe gets a hug from Mama, Roscoe Sr. approaches him and says to him that, if he ever drove him away or ever made him feel unworthy, he is truly sorry. He then tells his son that he loves him and that he is glad that he is back, and what he just said was the best gift that he has ever received. He then addresses him by his stage name of R.J. Stevens, but after Roscoe tells him that those words came from the heart, he embraces his true name of Roscoe Steven Jenkins and then hugs him. Seconds later, everyone gets out on the floor to start slow dancing, and Roscoe walks up to Lucinda and asks her to dance with him, and she accepts. Later on, the Jenkins family are shown watching a recording of the banquet on the 50-inch plasma TV that Roscoe bought for his parents (which they initially didn’t want), and when the video focuses on Roscoe dancing with Lucinda, Mama notices that the two of them aren’t here watching this with them and wonders where they are. When then cut to Roscoe and Lucinda making out like crazy in the upstairs hallway, and they soon go into one of the rooms and have sex.

While the credits roll, we find out that Roscoe has fully done away with his “R.J. Stevens” name when he re-names his talk show to “The Roscoe Jenkins Show.” He then spends a whole episode of the show talking to his siblings and cousins about their ridiculous problems while his parents and Lucinda watch from the audience.