I went to see this movie feeling highly skeptical and dreading yet another cheesy chick flick and I must say was surprised to get to the movie and watch a 2 hour advertisement for the book. In fact they should stop saying the movie is based on the book and start calling the movie what it is, an advert for the book!
(See below for more!)
(See below for more!)
Every 5 minutes the camera will center on the cover of the book and as if that’s not enough the movie frequently pauses and Steve (with his big ol mouth taking up half the screen) pulls a Bill Cosby (remember the Fat Albert cartoons?) dispenses what he thinks is invaluable advice. To top that all off the women characters in the movie are dickriding Steve Harvey so hard he should have impregnated each of them about 50 times already, how do they do this you ask? Well, every time they want to add weight to what they are saying they start it with “Steve says…..”.
Apart from the blatant self-promotion what do i think? Well, the casting was perfect with all-star male and female eye candy (which is practically to be expected in these new-age blaxploitation rom-com flicks) who carried their roles with conviction, however I think the movie was not good enough for them to fully stretch their talents within their roles. In fact this felt like an overused formula (you know the one that all these preachy black relationship films use) which is quite disappointing in such a hyped up movie, basically it resulted in a very predictable movie. While on the casting, the surprise cameo by a few NBA stars was an enjoyable and refreshing surprise.
In terms of the plot I think they could have done better. To summarize it for those that haven’t seen the movie yet, here’s the skinny:
· A bunch of women find a book that they can use to manipulate the men in their lives to do their bidding
· The men discover the treachery and manipulate the women back
· The women discover that the men are manipulating them back and are surprisingly victims all of a sudden, which leads to them running off from the men.
· The men (like properly programmed and manipulated droids) go back begging to the women apologizing for manipulating them
· The women apologize as well for manipulating the men in the first place oops, that would only have happened in a gender balanced movie. This movie on the other hand is very much biased in womens’ favour (which is understandable since women eat this kind of movie up like it was baked with gummy berries)
That’s it, that there is the whole movie, you don’t need to see it any more. Additionally to this, the only relationship struggles that the characters face are tailored to suit the advice given in this book; it almost feels like the plot was forced into a mold that wasn’t its shape. Now, I know most women out there are so sold into the hype about the book and I’m sorry to be the one to break the illusion. Breaking News: The book will not solve your problems, the women in the movie living their lives according to the book are nothing but fictional characters in laughably extreme situations, and if you think this is possible in real life then I wish you good luck.
Overall I think the movie could have been much better, I’m sure they had a good idea when they started but they blatantly failed to carry it through, instead we are stuck with a two hour advert for Steve Harvey’s book which I must add, contains absolutely nothing new being merely filled with shit that anyone can figure out themselves (i.e. Respect yourself, make a man feel like a man, etc.). If I had to score this movie I would give it one pimp hat out of five and that one pimp hat they’re only getting for the casting. If you absolutely have to go see it, don’t forget your crackers, the movie will provide the cheese!
