November 20, 2013

The Best Man Holiday...mai review

When I first heard Malcolm Lee was doing a sequel to what is in my opinion a Black Classic, 1999's The Best Man, I was....nervous.  I mean, sequels can be great...or they can also go terribly wrong. For films like this, I say if it ain't broke DON'T DO A SEQUEL! That goes for tv shows and books too....I was SOOOOO disappointed with the sequel to Terry McMillan's novel Waiting to Exhale...words cannot describe!  But I digress.

When I saw the first marketing pieces for the film, excitement and curiosity!  

Who wouldn't want to know what happened to some of their favorite characters?  Plus,  I LOVE seeing beautiful black folks on the big screen...and everyone is aging extremely WELL.  Morris with his chocolate deliciousness...WHEW!

STILL got it. I'm just sayin'. :-) And the ladies, Monica Sanaa Regina Nia Melissa,  who covered Ebony mag last month are an inspiration to say the least.

As for the film itself,.I expected....more? Especially after all the raving and butt licking on Facebook.  If I had to compare it to the first film, The Best Man had a build up of conflict and tension with the whole not-so-secret book/cheat reveal situation that just was NOT topped in the sequel.  Keeping the book and it's contents from Lance...the anticipation of him finding out the truth about his best man and soon-to-be wife...and then the satisfaction of the climax when he literally beat the bricks off Taye Diggs' character...I mean, c'mon!  Big shoes to fill.

Where BM Holiday was weak on tension/conflict building, it was heavy on tear jerking drama.  I admit, I was snotting a few times. There were plenty of touching moments...and I did appreciate that they showed different sides of the characters' personalities...even irritating shallow Shelby was shown in a different light before it was all said and done.  

I will say, the sequel LOOKED classier as far as setting etc, but the language was a lot more crass.  They seemed obsessed with the words d**k & pu**y & mother f**ka...I mean, really?  Trust me.  I'm no prude but when something jumps out at me during a film and it's adding no value at all, that's an issue.  The first one wasn't rated PG either...(remember the card scene...talk about tension!) but everything seemed...real.  Not just in there trying to be funny...and I do emphasize TRYING. Sigh. 


bite of the day - Overall, I'm still a superfan of the original Best Man....and was just glad to see these characters again in the second. Acting was superb as expected. Plus I got a good cry out so that counts for something. :-)

thirtiesgirl

No comments:

Post a Comment