Queen Latifah gives a spectacular performance in this hugely enjoyable wish-fulfillment fantasy.

A movie that takes advantage of the great good nature and warmth of Queen Latifah, and uses it to transform a creaky old formula into a comedy that is just plain lovable.

We may know exactly where we're going, but the journey is so much fun, all but the most peevish audience members will find it impossible to complain.

Queen Latifah finally gets a vehicle that gives her formidable talents and expansive spirit plenty of blooming room.

The movie is content to be a kind of middling expression of human decency: It's never either terribly funny or terribly dramatic, but Latifah's quiet solidity and common sense root it in ways that larger, louder pictures never achieve.