Directed by Ted Demme, Life opens in 1932 Harlem during the Prohibition era. Rayford Gibson (Murphy) is a fast-talking, opportunistic pickpocket, while Claude Banks (Lawrence) is a straight-laced, ambitious young man who has just landed a job at a bank. Through a series of unfortunate events and a rigged card game, the two polar opposites find themselves saddled with a debt to a mobster named Spanky.
The narrative arc of Life is arguably the best dramatic work of Murphy’s career between his early heyday and his later renaissance in Dreamgirls or Dolemite Is My Name . The relationship between Ray and Claude is defined by a bitter, hateful codependency. Unlike the easy camaraderie of Riggs and Murtaugh, Ray and Claude spend decades blaming each other for their incarceration. Their rivalry is the engine of the film’s humor, but it also provides its emotional core. The scenes where they plot escapes, stage a baseball game against the guards, or simply sit in the mess hall, showcase a improvisational rhythm that only two masters of the craft could sustain. life 1999 xvid martin lawrence eddie murphy best