The Honeymooners (2005)

14% of critics liked it
(110 reviews)
41% of users liked it
(9,323 ratings)

One of television's most beloved sitcoms gets an overhaul for the big screen in this comedy. Ralph Kramden (Cedric the Entertainer) is a New York City bus driver who has great ambitions and plans to make something of himself one day. However, Ralph's big ideas usually take the form of half-baked… More One of television's most beloved sitcoms gets an overhaul for the big screen in this comedy. Ralph Kramden (Cedric the Entertainer) is a New York City bus driver who has great ambitions and plans to make something of himself one day. However, Ralph's big ideas usually take the form of half-baked get-rich-quick schemes which invariably fail, much to the chagrin of his long-suffering wife, Alice (Gabrielle Union). But Ralph always has a loyal ally in his best friend and upstairs neighbor, Ed Norton (Mike Epps), a sewer worker who also has a wife who is weary of his antics, Trixie (Regina Hall). Alice and Trixie have a plan to come up with the down payment for a dream house: a suburban duplex that's being eyed by a shady developer (Eric Stoltz). But when Ralph and Ed decide to spend their savings on training a stray mutt for the New Jersey dog races, they threaten both couples' futures. Based on the classic Jackie Gleason and Art Carney series, The Honeymooners also stars John Leguizamo. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 1 hr. 30 min.
Directed By: John Schultz
Written By: Danny Jacobson, Saladin K. Patterson, Barry Blaustein, David Sheffield, Don Rhymer
Genres: Drama, Television, Comedy

In Theaters: Jun 10, 2005 Wide
On DVD: Nov 22, 2005
Studio: Paramount Pictures

Critic Reviews

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News
The comedy wannabe has the lamest, most predictable banter of any recent movie.
Mark Holcomb, Village Voice
The real problem is that the Kramdens' precarious financial situation, which gave the original its poignant frisson, is sidestepped.
Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper
I like the cast. They're very talented, they're really funny, they have a dreadful script to work with.
Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times
John Leguizamo steals the show as its sleazy trainer -- not that there's much to steal from John Schultz's joylessly schematic paycheck.
Desson Thomson, Washington Post
There's plenty of space up there for a colony of mediocre filmmakers. That's right, folks. To the moon. Bang! Zoom!
Teresa Wiltz, Washington Post
Blame it all on the Bad Guys, those Hollywood suits who think by committee and never met a focus group they didn't like. This is product, pure and simple.
Joshua Starnes, ComingSoon.net
There are two ways to look at the big-screen adaptation of The Honeymooners - as an adaptation of the show, and as a film in it's own right. Either way it's a film that occasionally works, but never manages more than that.
Cole Smithey, ColeSmithey.com
The script (credited to four screenwriters) uses a plethora of already-dated urban inside humor that reeks of pandering.
Kam Williams, Princeton Town Topics
A disconnected series of skits and one-liners likely to satisfy children while only infuriating nostalgic adults in search of the magic of the Fifties sitcom.
Prairie Miller, Long Island Press
A stroll down sitcom memory lane in name only, The Honeymooners seems as if any resemblance to the original TV classic could only be accidental.
Prairie Miller, Long Island Press
A stroll down sitcom memory lane in name only, The Honeymooners seems as if any resemblance to the original TV classic could only be accidental.
Peter T. Chattaway, Christianity Today
Fans of the original series probably won't care for it, and the rest of us could probably get the same kind of entertainment in our living rooms, for free.
David Nusair, Reel Film Reviews
Even if one were willing to overlook the fact that The Honeymooners is virtually nothing like the show that supposedly inspired it, the film would still come off as an unnaturally prolonged, second-rate UPN sitcom.
Michael Szymanski, International Press Academy
See what it was like working with Iggy, the dog they find in the movie, while off set. Apparently his bad dog-breath didn't have to be ad-libbed.
Stella Papamichael, BBC
It could be part-autobiographical for director John Schultz who blunders through a tediously half-baked plot and fails to make it pay off.
Michael Szymanski, Wordmag.com
Silly remake, but not the worst of the year
Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall
Alas, there's not a hint of creativity or wit here.

Read all 17 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Anthony L

I quite liked this film. It didn't suffer from having loads of cliques like it could have done. I'm not familiar with the original Jackie Gleason version, so I give it the thumbs up! (although when/if I get round to seeing it, it may very well mean that stars come off)
Mouhannad S

A Man With A Plan To Make It Rich Working class New York bus driver Ralph Kramden is always coming up with get-rich-quick schemes for him and his best friend, Ed Norton, who's always around to help him get in (and out of) trouble. Ralph Kramden and sanitation engineer Ed Norton… More
A Man With A Plan To Make It Rich Working class New York bus driver Ralph Kramden is always coming up with get-rich-quick schemes for him and his best friend, Ed Norton, who's always around to help him get in (and out of) trouble. Ralph Kramden and sanitation engineer Ed Norton are best friends whose schemes are the only things bigger than their dreams. The most recent get-rich-quick plan finds the boys out to make a fast buck by training and racing a stray greyhound. When Alice's dream of buying a home looks like it could become a reality, the Kramdens team up with their best friends who live upstairs, Ed and Trixie, to amass the $20,000 for a down payment before a shady land developer beats them to it. The Honeymooners gives a few nods to the original series, like Ed's trademark hat, and a sweet twist on Ralph's signature line: instead of threatening to knock Alice to the moon, he promises to take her there someday.
Fascade F

Why bother? Jackie Gleason did it best. Cedric the Entertainer was a QUIET version of Jackie Gleason in the sitcom...good try though...
Joseph E

A Complete and Original "Tv-Show turned Movie, and Maybe that's why it was only as half as good as a normal half and hour Sit-com?