Life (film)

Life is a 1999 film starring Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence. At first glance, it appears to be a normal, Murphy, screwball comedy. It has surprising depths as it follows several decades of the main characters' unlikely friendship. Fitting it firmly in the Dramady territory.

Claude Banks (Lawrence) gets caught up in a bootlegging scheme after a fateful run in with no-good Ray Gibson (Murphy). While making the sale in the Deep South, the boys get involved in a crooked game of cards and end up framed for the murder of the local card shark. Sentenced to life, their friendship is forged by proximity and the dream of escape.

Tropes used in Life (film) include:

Berserk Button: White Only Pie.
Bittersweet Ending: Debatable but Claude and Ray pretty much spend their whole lives locked away for a crime they never committed. By the time they finally pull of a successful escape, they're both fairly old men living in the modern world. Still the ending treats this in a positive light.
Book Ends: Ray and Claude's funeral.
Camp Gay: Biscuit.
Credits Gag: A bloopers reel is shown during the credits. The best of which is Murhpy's crack during the watch scene: "Hey, this ain't my daddy's watch!"
Deep South: Even though they are black men in the early 1900s, Claude is shocked to see the differences in their treatment when they leave New York and head South.
Driven to Suicide: Unable to cope with the idea of living on the outside, Biscuit commits suicide by running across the gun line.
- Ray's father gave up hope and hung himself in prison.
Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": We never hear most of the inmate's real names. Instead they are introduced by their prison names: Biscuit, Jangle Leg, Cookie, etc. No one ever even knows Can't Get Right's real name, as he can't speak to introduce himself.
Everything Makes a Mushroom: Ray's attempt to escape in the crop duster ends this way. Amazingly, he's shown being shoved into The Hole with no injuries other than a hilarious covering of soot.
Fire-Forged Friends: Ray and Claude hate each other until they have to spend decades in each other's company.
Foregone Conclusion: Ray and Claude die in prison. Or did they?
Her Child, but Not His: The Superintendent's daughter gives birth to a very obviously not white child. This leads to a hilarious scene where the Superintendent lines the prisoners up and compares the baby to each of them, trying to root out the father.
Hope Spot: When the superintendent finds out Ray and Claude are innocent, he immediately moves to write their pardon - right after he gets out of the restroom. Unfortunately, the stress of the day's events causes a heart attack and he dies without drawing up the papers or telling a soul.
I Am Spartacus: The entire camp claims fathership of Mae Rose's child to save Can't Get Right.
Imagine Spot: The inmates have one when Ray talks about his dream of owning a nightclub.
Inspirationally Disadvantaged: Can't Get Right is obviously very simple and never speaks. However, his baseball skills earn him a full pardon and he manages to have an affair with the superintendent's daughter.
Make It Look Like an Accident: The superintendent explains to the police that the shooting was a Dick Cheney style hunting accident.
Odd Couple: Straight laced Claude and petty thief Ray.
The Old Convict: Claude and Ray become this over decades of incarceration.
Orphan's Plot Trinket: Ray's watch, given to him by his deceased father who hung himself in prison.
Red Right Hand: Claude recognizes the real murderer by his accent and the scar across his cheek.
Sand in My Eyes: After hearing Ray and Claude's story, one of the young inmates claims his tears are from allergies.
She's All Grown Up: Little Mae Rose
Soundtrack Dissonance: The closing scene is intended to be highly uplifting and spotlight Ray and Claude's friendship and freedom. However, the song chosen was What Would You Do by City High, which is about a woman explaining her reasons for becoming a hooker. The song was obviously only chosen for the single chorus line "But for me this is what I call life."
Time Compression Montage: After closely following their first 12 years of incarceration, the film skips to the mid 70s via a montage of historical events and images of the other inmates fading as they either died or were released.
True Companions: The inmates form an odd family of sorts.
The Voiceless: Can't Get Right.
Where Are They Now? Epilogue: Ray Gibson and Claude Banks now live in Harlem...Together.
Where Da White Women At?: Can't Get Right can't keep his eyes off of Mae Rose. Ray and Claude continually try to warn him what kind of trouble this could get him in.
Zany Scheme: Ray's constant escape plots.