Uptight lawyer Peter Sanderson wants to dive back into dating after his divorce and has a hard time meeting the right women. He tries online dating and lucks out when he starts chatting with a fellow lawyer. The two agree to meet in the flesh, but the woman he meets — an escaped African-American convict named Charlene — is not what he expected. Peter is freaked out, but Charlene tries to convince him to take her case and prove her innocence. Along the way, she wreaks havoc on his middle-class life as he gets a lesson in learning to lighten up.
Bringing Down the House is a 2003 American comedy film written by Jason Filardi and directed by Adam Shankman and starring Steve Martin and Queen Latifah alongside Eugene Levy, Jean Smart, and Joan Plowright. The film features Martin as Peter Sanderson, a lonely lawyer who meets a woman on the Internet, only to learn she has escaped prison to prove her innocence. She then proceeds to wreak havoc on his own upper-class life. The film was released on March 7, 2003 by Touchstone Pictures and was distributed by Buena Vista Pictures.
