Recent PostsDeliver Us from Eva
Directed by
Gary Hardwick
Produced by
Paula Weinstein
Barry Levinson
Paddy Cullen
Len Amato
Written by
James Iver Mattson
B.E. Brauner
Gary Hardwick
Starring
LL Cool J
Gabrielle Union
Essence Atkins
Duane Martin
Mel Jackson,
Megan Good
Music by
Marcus Miller
Cinematography
Alexander Gruszynski
Editing by
Earl Watson
Distributed by
Focus Features
Release date(s)
February 7, 2003
Running time
105 min.
Language
English
Gross revenue
$17,573,594
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile
Deliver Us from Eva is a 2003 feature film starring LL Cool J and Gabrielle Union, revolving around LL’s character Ray being paid to date a troublesome young lady named Eva (Union). To some extent, it is a modern, urban update of William Shakespeare’s play, The Taming of the Shrew. It was released to the US theaters on February 7, 2003 by Focus Features, and also stars Essence Atkins, Duane Martin, and Mel Jackson.
The title is a play on the next to last line of the Lord’s Prayer: “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
Cast
- LL Cool J as Raymond ‘Ray’ Adams (cast by real name James Todd Smith)
- Gabrielle Union as Evangeline ‘Eva’ Dandrige
- Duane Martin as Michael ‘Mike’
- Essence Atkins as Kareenah Dandrige
- Robinne Lee as Bethany Dandrige
- Meagan Good as Jacqui Dandrige
- Mel Jackson as Timothy ‘Tim’
- Dartanyan Edmonds as Darrell
- Kym Whitley as Ormandy
- Royale Watkins as Telly
- Matt Winston as Oscar
- Ruben Paul as Rashaun
- Dorian Gregory as Lucius Johnson
- Kenya Moore as Renee Johnson
- Jazsmin Lewis as Lori
- Henry Kingi Jr. as Mounted cop
- Steve Stapenhorst Mayor
- Terry Crews as Big Bartender
- Stephen Saux as Bartender
- Adam Lazarre-White as Security officer
- Lynn Ann Leveridge as Woman in crowd
- Bobby Hall as Husband
- Mark Swenson as Earl
- Terry Dexter as Valerie
Plot
The Dandridge sisters, Evangeline (Eva for short), Kareenah, Bethany and Jacqui live in the northern United States. While Eva does not have a significant other, her sisters do. Eva, who works for the city’s health department as an inspector, is bossy and believes only she knows whats best for herself and her sisters and cannot get along at all with their husbands/boyfriends. When the four sisters band together to protect a family inheritance it is the last straw. The men turn to Ray Adams (LL Cool J), a meat packing trucker, to solve their problem, paying him to keep Eva busy and out of their respective lives. Unfortunately for Ray, he falls in love with Eva at first sight, but she proves to have a tart tongue and suspicious nature. Adams patiently begins to bring her around to the idea of a romantic relationship, even as she toys with the idea of leaving the city.
Eva and Ray fall hopelessly in love with each other, and Eva even temporarily abandons her shrewish ways. But Ray’s friends 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 Adams, lie to Eva about his tragic death in an accident and cajole her into leaving the city. Eva believes them and arranges a tearful funeral for her “dead” boyfriend, but in the middle of the service Adams appears, having escaped his prison, and the whole truth comes out. An angry Eva dumps Adams, leaves the city and resolves to start a new life. But Adams hasn’t quite given up. He shows up at Eva’s job on a white horse and persuades her to forgive him. She agrees to marry him, split up the inheritance, and apologizes for her interference in her sisters’ relationships.
External links
- Deliver Us From Eva at the Internet Movie Database
Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deliver_Us_from_Eva”
Categories: 2003 films | Comedy films | Drama films | English-language films | Romance films | The Taming of the Shrew