No matter what disguise Martin Lawrence may don, he's still just an Eddie Murphy wannabe.

In Big Momma's House, Lawrence plays Malcolm Turner, an FBI agent whose specialty is amazing prosthetic disguises.

The first time we meet Malcolm is during an astonishing latex transformation -- the only true surprise in the whole movie.

After that, it's clearly Malcolm in a fat suit and bubble makeup.

Malcolm and his partner John (Paul Giamatti) are assigned to follow Sherry (Nia Long), a young woman on the lam.

A few years earlier, Sherry's boyfriend Lester (Terrence Howard) robbed the bank where she worked, killing several people in the process.

He was caught and sent to prison, but the money was never recovered.

When Lester escapes from prison, Sherry runs with her young son Trent (Jascha Washington) to find solace and harbour in the very ample bosom of her grandmother Big Momma (Ella Mitchell).

Malcolm and John arrive first to stake out Big Momma's house, and when Big Momma is called to the hospital bedside of an ailing friend, Malcolm jumps into an elaborate disguise and becomes Big Momma.

It's Malcolm's assignment to get Sherry to confess her part in the robbery and to reveal the hiding place of the money.

It takes just a few hours for Malcolm to become smitten with Sherry, so he courts her as Malcolm and encourages the relationship as Big Momma.

Lawrence's makeup and drag act is not nearly as convincing as Robin Williams' was in Mrs. Doubtfire or Murphy's was as the Klump family in The Nutty Professor.

That's small potatoes.

No one is really going to believe Lawrence is a portly woman, and it really wouldn't matter -- if only the script provided plenty of action, tension, romance and laughs.

No such luck.

Novice screenwriters Darryl Quarles and Don Rhymer have a clever premise, but no knowledge where to take it or how to pad it.

They sprinkle in some truly gross bathroom humour and far too many grating fat jokes.

To his credit, Martin expends tremendous energy whenever he's in the fat suit.

He bounces around and bellows to compensate for the lack of flexibility in his latex face.

Had he been handed better lines and better shtick, his efforts may not have been so unrewarding.

Giamatti is amusing as Lawrence's sidekick and Long is sweetly dramatic as the damsel in distress.

There are a few really big laughs in Big Momma's House, but they were spliced together to create the film's teaser trailers.

Like the suit and makeup Lawrence slips into, Big Momma's House is too transparent to sustain the joke.

(This film is rated PG)

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