Rock plays elder son Aaron, whose successful-writer younger brother, Ryan (Martin Lawrence), has made his riches off books titled Mamas Secret, Black Hurt, and Rhondas Tiny Box. Eulogizing Dad before learning about his life on the waaaaay down-low (Peter Dinklage reprises his role as the extorting secret boyfriend), Aaron refers to his fathers love of Golden Girls, especially when it went into syndication.
But Rocks interventions cant compensate for excessive fealty to dumb gags involving watery poop and designer hallucinogens. Some cast members bring welcome controlled mania: Tracy Morgan, as a hypochondriacal friend of the family, further hones his logorrheic outbursts. Others, like Luke Wilson, as a scorned suitor of Zoe Saldana, are such null presences that they should have been in the original.