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

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a sub-genre of comedy and Romance novel, romance fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount all obstacles. Ro ...

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 and actor. He is one of the earliest rappers to achieve commercial success, alongside fellow new school hip ho ...

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 drunke ...

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

Focus Features Focus Features LLC is an American independent film production and distribution company, owned by Comcast as a unit of Universal Pictures, which is itself a unit of Comcast's division NBCUniversal. Focus Features distributes independent and fore ...

, and also stars Essence Atkins, Duane Martin, and Mel Jackson. The title is a play on a line of the

Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also known by its incipit Our Father (, ), is a central Christian prayer attributed to Jesus. It contains petitions to God focused on God’s holiness, will, and kingdom, as well as human needs, with variations across manusc ...

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

Plot

Evangeline (Eva) Dandridge works for The Los Angeles Health Department as an inspector, a job well-suited 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 (Tim, Mike, and Darrell, respectively). While the men are out at a bar comiserating about how interfering Eva is, they come across Mike's old friend Ray Adams. He 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 she 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 her while at work delivering meat to local restaurants, they make amends and begin a relationship. Eva and Ray fall in love, and she 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. 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, so 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 him and storms out of the church. After the whole ordeal, Ray tries numerous times to apologize to her 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, Eva 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. He reveals that he left everything behind in Los Angeles to come and be with her in Chicago. Ray tells Eva that he cannot live without her and will do whatever it takes to win her back. Convinced, she takes him back and they share a kiss before leaving on the white horse, ready to start their new lives together.

Cast

Reception

''Deliver Us from Eva'' received mixed reviews from critics. It holds a 43% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, 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 ...

based on 83 reviews, with the critics consensus stating, "Though Union and LL Cool J are appealing romantic leads, ''Deliver Us from Eva'' is too predictable and contrived."

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 The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

in its first opening weekend.

References

External links