Life

By RICHARD CORLISS

Why sit through just one mediocre movie when Life offers an anthology of them? First it's Harlem Nights: Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence meet in a Manhattan speak-easy in 1932. Then it's a period prison picture, as the stars get framed on a murder rap. Climax in the '70s with an all-male Driving Miss Daisy, and keep on meandering into the '90s as the codgers plan one last adventure. Since the characters are in stir most of the time, the film doesn't move; it just ages. Murphy's real co-star here, as in Coming to America and The Nutty Professor, is makeup maven Rick Baker. The facial prostheses are funny and poignant. Unlike this life-long film.

--By Richard Corliss