Jamie Foxx stars as a guy just dumped by his fiancé who ends up writing a best selling book about how to dump significant others. Along the way, there are mistaken identities, gender and racial stereotypes, and a decided lack of comedy and wit. Gabrielle Union serves as the eye candy object of Foxx's affections by mistake when he's sent to dump her by his "player" cousin, Morris Chestnut, who specializes in booty calls that expire after three months. Due to a very subtle change in her appearance, Foxx doesn't recognize her as the person he's supposed to give the message to, and a romance between him and Union ensues.
Parallel to this story, there is a sub-plot involving advice-giving to Peter MacNicol, who is trying to rid himself of gold-digging Jennifer Esposito. Kudos to the director for trying to make a comedy with black lead actors that are not all "urban" stereotypes. However, there are other tired routines that are apparent in the film. The black male "player", the dirty old white man, the dog joke that runs throughout the film, etc. The laughs are few and far between and rely more on the aforementioned devices (and ones similar to them), instead of actual sophisticated writing and character development. The film is rather formulaic, and, without further plot developments beyond my opening comments of this review, becomes static to the viewer. This is another disappointing, unsophisticated comedy with too few laughs on any level. ** of 4 stars.
Parallel to this story, there is a sub-plot involving advice-giving to Peter MacNicol, who is trying to rid himself of gold-digging Jennifer Esposito. Kudos to the director for trying to make a comedy with black lead actors that are not all "urban" stereotypes. However, there are other tired routines that are apparent in the film. The black male "player", the dirty old white man, the dog joke that runs throughout the film, etc. The laughs are few and far between and rely more on the aforementioned devices (and ones similar to them), instead of actual sophisticated writing and character development. The film is rather formulaic, and, without further plot developments beyond my opening comments of this review, becomes static to the viewer. This is another disappointing, unsophisticated comedy with too few laughs on any level. ** of 4 stars.