The Best Man (1999)

I saw this five years ago on DVD and grabbed it the other day in the video store wanting an oldie/goodie. So tired of watching homogenized films about stealing the groom from the bride; cheating on the bride-to-be while on a road-trip in wine country; the sad/depressed bridesmaid/maid-of-honor tragically gets dumped by her escort; blah-blah-blah. What this film offers us instead is something in the eyes of four Af-Am buddies who get together before one of them ties the knot. And there are no race cards pulled. The film does not zero on one of the characters and their drug/alcohol problem, or gang-related problemos, or any stereotypical stuff like that. No- what Malcolm Lee did instead was deliver us with an ensemble cast who just happen to be black, mix in a smooth R & B soundtrack with it and a give us a fun premise.It's simple: Harper (Diggs) is on the brink of publishing his first novel with characters loosely based on his friends from college. He flies to New York to get together with his buddies before attending his friend's wedding. During that time, he encounters an old flame that got away; the changes in ideology and values with others. But on the night of the bachelor party, Lance (Chestnut) gets his paws on a copy and reads it, puzzling together the composites while blaming Diggs for cheating with his fiancée.Taye Diggs, Nia Long, Morris Chestnut, Terrence Dashon Howard, Harold Perrineau, Monica Calhoun, Sanaa Lathan, and the rest of all the cast get the fattest props because without their acting, this would've been a train wreck. What makes these characters so unique and human is that they're not stereotypical caricature's and each of them all evolve their own style. Taye Diggs is the quiet pragmatist of them all, yet he's no dork. Morris Chestnut is Lance the football "player"/groom-to-be. Harold Perrineau is the hopelessly, pathetically whipped brother-man with heart and Terrence Dashon Howard (from this year's "Crash")steals every scene he's in as the cynical but cool cat musician buddy. Nia Long is the former flame of Taye Diggs with Sanaa Lathan as his girlfriend.Yeah, the story is a little predictable. Yeah, it's a little lewd and sexist (the scene at the poker table, but I love those lines: "Bite it!", "Grow it!"). The very ending is something we've seen before, yet it's funny anyway. Only problem was that this film was probably labeled as a "black film" at the time and that was probably why it received such poor box office (a'la "Waiting to Exhale", "Boomerang"). Perhaps Hollywood wasn't ready to see that and preferred a movie about a suburban, white, dysfunctional family instead. Oh, and gave it Best Picture, too.

****MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS**** This movie was great. I never get tired of seeing it. I really like Quentin's character. He stole every scene he was in. I kind of wish they had made a spin off with his character because he was really interesting. I would have liked to have seen the relationship he had with his father because from the way him and Harper talked it seemed his father was always on him about choosing a career and the last thing he needed was for Harper to be doing that to him. Like he didn't need another father figure who didn't approve of his lifestyle. With the way the movie ended I think it would have been good to develop a story between him and Shelby. See where that would go. Also show him in his playing ways and also show him playing the guitar a lot more like he was working on putting together a record, the way he played was tight. But if they were to make a movie on just his character only Terrence Howard could play him and only Malcolm Lee would be able to pull off a great job directing it.

I'm all about movies that uplift the Black society in general. We're not all from the ghetto trying not to get shot. It was about educated Black folk with successful careers trying to be "normal". Everyone did a great job in their respective parts. Apart from the fact that Harper was stupid to publish the book so early, I could see why. In his own way, he was apologizing when they were at their happiest and little could be done about it. Everything about the movie made sense and I liked that. No holes were left. *SPOILER* When Harper proposed to Robin, that was a little too cheesy for my taste. You propose at someone else's wedding? Tactless much? Nia Long was riveting as Jordan, seriously. She had the part on lock. Everyone was messed up in some way, except outside characters like Robin. Great movie to add to the Black Movie List. Catch it when you can!

This film stinks. I know there are lot of people giving it praise because it portrays middle-class black people. Well hey, 'Eyes Wide Shut' portrayed the lives of middle-class white people and it was still terrible! I think people need to get some perspective, imagine if everyone in this film was white instead of black, would you still think it was a good film? Would there be anything worthwhile about it at all?It's junk. The resolutions are so pat and ridiculous. I would call this film average instead of terrible if it hadn't been for the 'hooker with the heart of gold' storyline. Bleeugh! Thank god that the ambitious black woman got put back in her place eh? This film is a step forward alright (!). Watch 'The Wood' instead, touching and genuinely funny.