''Deliver Us from Eva'' is a 2003 American

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typic ...

film starring

LL Cool J James Todd Smith (born January 14, 1968), known professionally as LL Cool J (short for Ladies Love Cool James), is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is one of the earliest rappers to achieve commercial success, along ...

and

Gabrielle Union Gabrielle Monique Union-Wade ( Union; born October 29, 1972) is an American actress. Her career began in the 1990s, when she made dozens of appearances on television sitcoms, prior to landing supporting roles in 1999 teen films ''She's All That ...

, revolving around LL's character Ray being paid to date a troublesome young lady named Eva (Union). It is considered by many as a modern update of William Shakespeare's play, ''

The Taming of the Shrew ''The Taming of the Shrew'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1592. The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunk ...

''. It was released to the US theaters on February 7, 2003 by

Focus Features Focus Features LLC is an American film production and distribution company, owned by Comcast as part of Universal Pictures, a division of its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal. Focus Features distributes independent and foreign films in the U ...

, and also stars Essence Atkins, Duane Martin, and

Mel Jackson Mel, Mels or MEL may refer to: Biology * Mouse erythroleukemia cell line (MEL) * National Herbarium of Victoria, a herbarium with the Index Herbariorum code MEL People * Mel (given name), the abbreviated version of several given names (including ...

. The title is a play on a line of the

Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...

: "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."

Plot

Evangeline (Eva for short) Dandridge works for The Los Angeles Health Department as an inspector, a job most suitable for her bossy and perfectionist nature. She and her sisters—Kareenah, Bethany, and Jacqui—have been taking care of each other since their parents died when they were young. As a result of the combination of her personality and her family's circumstances, Eva's level of involvement in her sisters' lives causes a high level of tension between her and her sisters' significant others (Mike, Tim, and Darrell, respectively). While the significant others are out at a bar complaining about how interfering Eva is, they come across Mike's old friend Ray Adams. Ray is a "Master Player" who can handle even the most difficult women. The guys hire Ray to seduce Eva and convince her to move away with him so they can finally be free of her meddling. Little do they know Eva has already been offered a new job in Chicago. After a disastrous first date, Ray tells the guys that Eva is too difficult for even him to handle and offers to return their money. However, when he runs into Eva while at work delivering meat to local restaurants they make amends and begin a relationship. Eva and Ray fall in love, and Eva even temporarily abandons her shrewish ways. When things start to get serious, Eva's sisters all start comparing their relationships to Ray and Eva's relationship, making things even worse than before. After they find out about Eva's job offer, the significant others panic and attempt to break up the blossoming romance, claiming their wives never let them hear the end of the latest with Eva and Ray, and that Eva intends to stay in the city. Things get so complicated that the men finally hatch a daring plan: kidnap Ray, lie to Eva about his death in an accident and cajole her into leaving the city. Eva believes them and arranges a tearful funeral for her "dead" boyfriend. In the middle of the service Ray appears, having escaped his prison, and the whole truth comes out. An angry Eva dumps Ray and storms out of the church. After the whole ordeal, Ray tries numerous times to apologize to Eva and tells her that he truly loves her, but Eva does not want to hear it and still plans to move on without him. Days later, she apologizes to Mike, Tim, and Darrell for meddling and being a huge pain and distraction for them and her sister's lives. She reveals that they dissolved and split their parent's inheritance and her sisters and their partners reconcile. Mike and Bethany become engaged. Eva leaves and starts her new life in Chicago. One day after a meeting, Ray surprises Eva on a white horse in front of her boss and colleagues. Ray reveals that he left everything behind in Los Angeles to come and be with Eva in Chicago. He tells her that he can't live without her and will do whatever it takes to win her back. Convinced, Eva takes Ray back and they share a kiss before leaving on the white horse, ready to start their new lives together.

Cast

as Raymond 'Ray' Adams (cast by real name James Todd Smith, used for the first time.) *

as Evangeline 'Eva' Dandrige * Duane Martin as Michael (Mike) * Essence Atkins as Kareenah Dandrige * Robinne Lee as Bethany Dandrige *

Meagan Good Meagan Monique Good is an American actress. She first gained critical attention for her role in the film ''Eve's Bayou'' (1997), prior to landing the role of Nina in the Nickelodeon sitcom ''Cousin Skeeter'' (1998–2001). Good received further ...

as Jacqui Dandrige *

as Timothy (Tim) * Dartanyan Edmonds as Darrell *

Kym Whitley Kym Elizabeth Whitley is an American comedian and actress. She is best known for her roles on television sitcoms, such as '' My Brother and Me'', '' Sparks'', ''Animal Practice'', '' The Boondocks'', ''Young & Hungry'', '' The Parkers'', ...

as Ormandy *

Nikki Washington Madeline Nicole Washington (born August 1, 1988) is an American retired professional soccer forward and right midfielder who last played for Boston Breakers in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and is currently an assistant coach for the ...

as Robin * Royale Watkins as Telly *

Matt Winston Matthew Winston is an American actor. He is the son of special effects artist Stan Winston. Career Winston's television appearances include the HBO dramas '' Six Feet Under'' and '' John from Cincinnati'', and as Crewman Daniels in '' Star T ...

as Oscar * Ruben Paul as Rashaun * Dorian Gregory as Lucius Johnson *

Kenya Moore Kenya Summer Moore (born January 24, 1971) is an American actress, model, producer, author, television personality, and entrepreneur. She is best known for winning the Miss USA pageant in 1993 and being a main cast member on Bravo's reality ser ...

as Renee Johnson * Henry Kingi Jr. as Mounted cop * Steve Stapenhorst as Mayor *

Stephen Saux Stephen Thomas Saux, Jr.(; April 2, 1972) is an American actor, writer, cinematographer and short film producer. He is best known for his work creating the web series ''The Life of Lori Murphy'', ''Ninja Mom'' and the award-winning short film, ' ...

as Bartender * Terry Crews as Big Bartender *

Aloma Wright Aloma Wright (born March 10, 1950) is an American actress, widely known for her roles as Laverne Roberts on the NBC/ABC comedy series '' Scrubs'' (2001–2009), Maxine Landis on the NBC daytime drama series ''Days of Our Lives'' (2008– ...

as Reverend Washington *

Jazsmin Lewis Jazsmin Lewis (born March 22) is an American actress, film producer and musician. Lewis is best known for her starring role as the title character in the 2005 film ''Traci Townsend'' and as Jennifer Palmer, Calvin's wife in the '' Barbershop'' f ...

as Lori *

Terry Dexter Terry Dexter is an American contemporary R&B singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and actress. Early life Dexter was born in Detroit, Michigan. She has a twin sister, and she describes her ethnicity simply as multiracial. Dexter's fath ...

as Valerie *

Mel Gibson Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson (born January 3, 1956) is an American actor, film director, and producer. He is best known for his action hero roles, particularly his breakout role as Max Rockatansky in the first three films of the post-apoca ...

as Himself

Reception

''Deliver Us from Eva'' received mixed reviews from critics, as it holds a 44% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

based on 81 reviews.

Box office

The film opened at No. 6 in the U.S. Box office in the weekend of February 7, 2003, raking in $6,648,374 USD in its first opening weekend.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Deliver Us From Eva 2003 films 2003 romantic comedy-drama films African-American comedy films Modern adaptations of works by William Shakespeare Films based on The Taming of the Shrew American romantic comedy-drama films African-American romance films 2003 comedy films 2003 drama films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films