Todd Anderson has just signed a 5-year/$30 million contract with his hometown basketball team the New Jersey Nets, he purchases many new luxuries for himself and his family including a new house in a well established, high class neighborhood called Garden Ridges Estates for him and his gold digging girlfriend Brittany. Keeping with family tradition, he and his parents Em and JoJo decides to host a regular family reunion cookout in his new place. He does not plan for it to clash with an important business meeting for an endorsement deal which his agent Wes arranges. He even meets Garden Ridge's local security guard. Meanwhile, Bling Bling is jealous that his former classmate Todd has made it with his basketball contract after being insulted and embarrassed in front of the neighborhood when Todd did not recognize who he was. He plans to get many pairs of sneakers signed by the upcoming star to sell on eBay and become rich. Although the meeting is scheduled to take place in the morning, the guests are to arrive in the afternoon. One by one, members of Todd's eccentric family like Willie and Nelson, country cousins Jemar and Jasper, aspiring lawyer Uncle Leroy, Todd's grandpa, cousin Little Dee and her kids, and Em's sister Nettie alongside her husband Frank and son Jamal begin to arrive before expected disrupting his business interview. As Em keeps Brittany busy, the neighbors Judge Crowley and his wife are drawn to the cookout. Whilst on his way to Todd's new house, he crashes his car due to his clumsy friend Wheezer, tries to ride in the truck of a poo salesman, and then tries to steal a new Mercedes from a parking garage without realizing the car belongs to Todd's girlfriend Brittany. After finding out, he holds her at gunpoint and forces her to drive him there. Todd is concerned mainly about his image, as his family's antics are making a poor impression on his neighbors when the security guard visits. Todd's childhood friend Becky arrive. After a talk with her, Todd apologizes to his mother for losing his temper. She forgives him after settling her differences with Nettie. When Bling Bling and Wheezer invade the cookout so they can get Todd's autograph, the ensuing chaos makes Todd realize how much he needs his family. He realizes that he loves the family for the way they are and gets a shock by the endorsement interviewer. Bling Bling and Wheezer are defeated by the security guard, Jemar, and Jasper and are arrested by the police. Todd breaks up with Brittney and marries Becky as DJ Enuff performs at the party. A postscript states that Todd scores 26 points in his debut in New Jersey as he and Becky use the car bed he originally slept in. Leroy failed his bar exam for the 16th time and his conspiracy book was a bestseller. Little Dee finally got a father figure for her kids and moved in next to Todd. Jamal complete med school and broke up with Brittany three times. The security guard Mildred Smith left Garden Ridges and became a cop who gained a record of different tickets written out.
Cast
Quran Pender as Todd Andersen, a basketball player who joins the New Jersey Nets.
* Otis Best portrays Todd during his grade school days.
Ja Rule as Bling Bling/Percival "Assmackey" Ashmokeem, a rival of Todd.
* Ali Wright portrays Bling Bling during his grade school days.
Tim Meadows as Leroy, the uncle of Todd who has failed his bar exam 15 times.
Jenifer Lewis as Lady Em/Emma Andersen, the mother of Todd.
Meagan Good as Brittany, the gold-digging girlfriend of Todd.
Jonathan Silverman as Wes Riley, Todd's agent.
Farrah Fawcett as Mrs. Crowley, the neighbor of Todd.
Frankie Faison as JoJo Andersen, the father of Todd.
Eve as Becky, a childhood friend of Todd.
* Channelle Nazaire portrays Becky during her grade school days.
Danny Glover as Judge Crowley, the husband of Mrs. Crowley.
Queen Latifah as Mildred Smith, a security guard of the neighborhood that Todd's family moved into. Her name wasn't revealed until the postscript.
The film opened on 1,303 screens, and opened at #8 in the box office with a gross of $5,000,900. After seven weeks, it ended with a domestic gross of $11,814,019 and made $195,051 from foreign countries, for a total of $12,009,070 world-wide.
Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film received a rating 5%, based on 41 reviews, with the consensus reading, "Good-natured but prepared with an absence of craft, The Cookout is an unappetizing collection of warmed-over jokes." On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 15 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".
Sequel
On September 3, 2011, a sequel, The Cookout 2 premiered on BET. Quran Pender, Ja Rule, Frankie Faison, Rita Owens, and Denee Busby were the only cast members to reprise their roles. Despite the title, the plot itself is not about a cookout at all with the cookout occurring earlier in the film. Talk show host Wendy Williams had a brief cameo as reporter Piers Gabriel in the original. In the sequel, she makes a special guest appearance as herself hearing about Todd's experiences in the film. Charlie Murphy co-stars in the film as Coach Ashmokeem, the brother of Bling Bling. The rest of the principal cast consists of Freeze Luv, Faizon Love, Big Boi, Jalen Rose, Michael K. Williams, Fat Joe, Jay Pharaoh, Vivica A. Fox, and Mike Tyson.
