Martin Lawrence at home in `Big Momma’s House’

In theaters

BIG MOMMA’S HOUSE. Directed by Raja Gosnell. Written by Darryl Quarles and Don Rhymer. 97 minutes, PG-13.

There’s a whole lot of love going down at “Big Momma’s House.” There’s a whole lot of cooking, a whole lot of common sense, a whole lot of undercover work by the FBI, a whole lot of double-dealing by tired old fools who double-deal, and a whole lot of woman as realized in the enormous, swaybacked, eye-popping form of Big Momma herself.

Big Momma isn’t any ordinary woman, mind you. With all of her rubber padding, foam core, sacks of stuffing and yards of piping, she easily could be a five-piece living room group at Sears.

In fact, the 411 on Big Momma is that she isn’t a woman at all. Underneath all of that hair and makeup, swaying breasts and mountainous hips, is Martin Lawrence living large in one phat bag of drag.

If you’re wondering how that comes off, just imagine Flip Wilson’s Geraldine crossed with Mama Cass and Al Roker on crack cocaine and you’ll have a good idea of how Lawrence swings through his latest comedy in plus-size floral housedresses that are so huge, they could give shelter to 50 out-of-work supermodels.

The premise in all this is ridiculous — and ridiculously simple: Lawrence is Malcolm, an FBI agent skilled in the art of disguise who joins his partner, John (Paul Giamatti), in finding an escaped bank robber named Lester (Terrence Howard).

When it’s assumed that Lester’s former girlfriend, Sherry (Nia Long), knows where Lester is, Malcolm and John go in search of her — a search that begins and ends at the home of Sherry’s grandmother, Big Momma (Ella Mitchell), a woman who conveniently leaves town so Malcolm can steal her identity, get close to Sherry and get the goods on Lester.

Naturally, all this is window dressing for the real matter at hand: Lawrence’s gifts as a physical comedian. When he’s Big Momma, he’s funny, sometimes so funny that he nearly snuffs the lingering feeling that his career is little more than a mirror held up to Eddie Murphy’s.

Lawrence is no Murphy — he doesn’t have the range — but this much can be said for his performance as Big Momma: Just as the fat suit inspired Murphy in “The Nutty Professor,” Lawrence seems equally liberated. Whether he’s using Crisco and an oven mitt to help deliver a child, slamming basketballs on the court with Sherry’s son, Trent (Jascha Washington), or drop-kicking an overeager self-defense instructor, he’s effective, throwing down the laughs just as neatly as Robin Williams did in “Mrs. Doubtfire.”

Word to your Momma — “Big Momma’s House” rocks.

Grade: B

On video

MAN ON THE MOON. Directed by Milos Forman. Written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski. 118 minutes, R.

Those renting Milos Forman’s “Man on the Moon” hoping for insight into what made Andy Kaufman one of comedy’s more peculiar bit players will be disappointed. The film never explores who Kaufman was.

Instead, Forman uses his film to elaborately re-stage those performances that ignited Kaufman’s rise to fame — and those performances that ultimately cast his career into free fall before he died of lung cancer at age 35.

The result is a film as polarizing as Kaufman was himself.

At my screening last December, the audience was divided into thirds — those who got up and walked out, those who sat in dumbstruck silence, and those who clearly rejoiced in Jim Carrey’s uncanny impersonation of Kaufman’s shtick.

It may be fitting that this film perfectly mirrors Kaufman’s assumed lack of substance — Kaufman, an absurdist, would have delighted in the film’s emptiness — but anyone interested in people or in what drives pop culture will be left with too many unanswered questions: How did Kaufman become so popular? Why did he strike such a nerve? How did he get this way? Why did he intentionally destroy his career?

Those seeking answers will have no choice but to turn to the performances, which, in the end, aren’t enough to flesh out an enduring enigma.

Grade: C-

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Monday and Thursday in the NEWS, Tuesday and Thursday on WLBZ’s “NEWS CENTER 5:30 Today” and “NEWS CENTER Tonight,” and Saturday and Sunday on NEWS CENTER’s statewide “Morning Report.”

THE VIDEO CORNER

Renting a video? NEWS film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores.

Girl, Interrupted B Miss Julie C Next Friday B- Man on the Moon C- Snow Falling on Cedars C American Movie A Eye of the Beholder F The End of the Affair B+ Felicia’s Journey B+ Sleepy Hollow B- The World is Not Enough B+ American Beauty A Bringing Out the Dead B- The Straight Story A Anywhere but Here B+ Being John Malkovich C+ Dogma F Galaxy Quest B+ Fight Club B+ Flawless C- Music of the Heart B Tumbleweeds A The Bachelor D+ End of Days C+ The House on Haunted Hill F Mumford A- Stuart Little B- The Insider B+ Superstar B+ Three Kings A- Three to Tango D- Boys Don’t Cry A For Love of the Game B The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Ark C- The Phantom Menace B Jakob The Liar D Last Night B- The Sixth Sense A- The Omega Code F Pokemon: The First Movie C- Crazy in Alabama C Drive me Crazy C+ Guinevere A- The Limey A Outside Providence C+ Eyes Wide Shut B+ Buena Vista Social Club B+ The Bone Collector C+ Twin Falls Idaho A The Best Man B Random Hearts C- Stigmata C- Bats C