Mike Epps and Katt Williams? You can usually sign me up for at least a taste of what these two have to offer on screen together. Unfortunately, The House Next Door: Meet The Blacks 2 is just too utterly ridiculous and sloppily thrown together for these comic greats to take me back to their early 00’s rise in comedy.
Carl Black (Epps) is back and in his old neighborhood after failing to sell any copies of his book, when the mysterious Dr. Mamuwalde (Williams) moves in next door and bodies start missing, it’s not long before our “hero” has to protect his family from the charismatic vampire
I really wanted to give this movie a positive review. But can’t do it.
Director Deon English doesn’t look like he was interested in too much more than minor amusement here. And perhaps, that’s all he was going for. But most of this stuff isn’t funny, and it almost feels like he knew where the potential was and chose to go light on the material. There are also some detours we take along the way that drag the overall product down. We don’t get nearly enough Mike Epps vs. Katt Williams here and that’s what we wanted.
When the two are on screen, they will extract the laughter from your body with a banter that is exactly what we showed up for. Epps’ exchanges with his MAGA loving neighbor are also laugh inducing, as well as a charming cameo from Danny Trejo. We just don’t get enough of any of those things.
I’d love to see Epps, Williams, and Trejo work together on another project that can let them hit the comedic potential we’ve know for years they’re capable of. But this ain’t it.
The House Next Door: Meet The Blacks 2
GRADE: D
Rated: R
Running Time: 1 hour 38 minutes.