Will Smith makes me laugh, and the premise of this movie is clever, but it doesn't quite deliver. At the beginning of the movie, when Smith is coaching men on what women want, the movie is interesting and fun. When he is interacting with Eva Mendes, that works pretty well, too. But when Smith is falsely accused of being a cad, then propped up by his least-likely-to-succeed client, the writing starts to get clichéd, like a self-help informercial. It rebounds somewhat at the end, but the total effect is pretty underwhelming. {shrug} ... "that was fun." That sort of movie.

In the coming attractions, I was intrigued by Guess Who, a comedy starring Ashton Kutcher and Bernie Mac. Kutcher is marrying a black woman, and Mac is Kutcher's future father-in-law. I am old enough -- just barely -- to remember Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, the lightest of Sidney Poitier's 1967 movies (the others were To Sir, With Love and In the Heat of the Night). The new movie will not be preachy on race relations like its inspiration, but these are different times.

Popular Culture | Bookmark