En qué piensan los hombres

Based off the Steve Harvey bestseller, the film "Think Like A Man"opens with the legendary sound of James Brown singing "It's A Mans World". Anyone familiar with the song knows the true message of the song is in the lyrics; "but it wouldn't be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl".

That song choice serves as a perfect theme for this conventional romantic comedy that chronicles the timeless war of the sexes. Now I realize that the description "conventional" may come across as negative but that's not my intention entirely. I mean conventional as in "not a Madea" movie. This quality film falls more in line with Hollywood's traditional romantic comedy formula rather than Tyler Perry's "play adapted for film" approach to movie making. There are plenty of laughs interspersed through out romantic conflicts that are resolved without any significant twists or surprises.

The plot revolves around the love lives and relationships of six male friends who fall into very specific roles; the player, the mamas boy, the dreamer, the non-commiter, the happily married man and the happy divorcée.

For the most part these guys are blissfully ignorant of the dissatisfaction that the significant others in their lives silently suffer through.

That is until the women discover and read Steve Harvey's book "Think Like A Man, Act Like A Woman". Acting on the advice of the book, the women manipulate the men into becoming the type of man they each want and getting the relationships they desire. So can the "player" be tamed by the girl who keeps her "cookie" on lock down for at least 90 days? Can the single mom get the "mama's boy" to cut the emotional umbilical cord he shares with his overbearing, over nurturing mother (played pitch perfect by Jennifer Lewis)? And what happens when the fellas realize that they've been "betrayed" by Steve Harvey and then use the book against the ladies like a sports team with knowledge of the opposing teams plays.

Although the majority of the cast is Black, the story (due to Steve Harvey's source material) and the comedy (thanks mostly to Kevin Hart) is broad enough to appeal to almost all audiences unlike some of Tyler Perry's movies which tend to cater  specifically to Black women.

Every actor and actress does an adequate job in their various roles and move the film easily from scene to scene. There are plenty of cameos that make the film fun but Kevin Hart deserves special recognition because he absolutely shines! He redefines the term "scene stealer" by being the most enjoyable character every time he appears on screen.

Although many people will consider this a Black romantic comedy, this film is really too strong to be pigeonholed into that genre.  But if you must classify it as such, then know that this movie breaks Tyler Perry's stronghold and breaks out of the Madea mold of what Black entertainment is.

I'm proud of this film's success. Will Packer and Rainforest work hard and they deserve it. But this film is weak on so many levels. Being based on a "self-help" book, this screenplay was crammed with nothing but on-the-nose dialogue that left me bored and fidgety for the most part. Outside of Kevin Hart, there wasn't a single thing funny about this film. Okay, maybe once or twice I laughed but one time it was at something I don't think was meant to be funny (actor Romany Malco singing with his guitar). You can't call a film a comedy where only one character was remotely, or should I say barely humorous. I found more humor in dramas like American Beauty, City Lights, and The Graduate.

This film seemed to just flat-line from beginning to end. When I say flat, I mean literally flat. Nothing happened until the guy-meets-girl moments, and that took a while to get to. Once the relationships started, the weak conflicts seemed to be limited to the superficiality of Steve Harvey's best selling book. No inner conflicts, not even conflict on the extra-personal level.

I could've done without most of the characters which can read like a list of players on a football team. They had no purpose and added nothing to the telling, like the married guy amongst them, Bennett played by Gary Owen. I know a lot of people loved this film. But can anyone seriously say they got to know any of the characters? Also, I had a hard time buying most of the relationships. The worst of them all had to be Jerry Ferrara with Gabrielle Union. It was like having to suspend your disbelief watching them together and that didn't even work for me. I didn't believe they even knew each, let alone them being in a 13 year relationship. At a glance, I would faster believe Union was Ferrara's babysitter or nanny, not her man. It was one big spoof to me.

The next absurd relationship was Regina Hall and the guy from 106 and Park, Terrence Jenkins. I didn't believe he and Hall went to high school at the same time. In fact, she could've passed for his mother as well.

Taraji Henson's relationship with Michael Ealy was also hard to stomach, as I had trouble believing a woman with her success in business wouldn't question Ealy's facade.

I liked the relationship between Meagan Good and Romany Malco but it was so contrived, like everything else about this film.

And the next black film made showing black friends discussing their relationships while trying to play basketball should have little-tree car re-fresheners hanging from theater ceilings for the sake of audiences. Why? Because such expository scenes are a load of steaming crap. Guys don't stand around on the court discussing such things, or play ball while having those kinds of conversations. I know they did it in The Brothers (2001) and it was b.s. then as it still is now.

The telling had no direction, no point-of-view. It could've been anyone or anything's story at any given time, which left me confused and disengaged. I was waiting for the fire hydrant's storyline eventually.

I really wanted to like it, but I couldn't. In the end, I was dissatisfied and utterly annoyed.

Excruciatingly bad. That's my takeaway from this movie. As other critics have stated, this is just one big infomercial for Steve Harvey's book. I will go a step further and say it's a big ol' "that-a-boy" from Steve to himself. Gag me now.

The plot is non-existent. The "movie" is just an array of vignettes that sloppily intersect and form silly lessons from the "great one" (Harvey) about relationships. The characters are just there. There is no real development except the trite, predictable "I see the light now" that brings the manufactured happy endings to each vignette. The writing is HORRIBLE. The production is low-budget. The list goes on of things that make this "movie" forgettable.

However,there are small but significant peeps of light through the otherwise dark cloud that is this ode to Harvey. The all-star cast tries really hard and sometimes succeeds at making this horrible script entertaining. I will highlight Michael Ealy's character as a ray of sunshine. The combination of his looks including those piercing eyes and his acting chops make his character appealing and dreamy, despite his being mismatched with the older-looking Taraji Henson. Gabrielle Union does a decent job with her character and she and her beau have the most interesting, believable story line of the movie. The numerous cameos would be kind of cute if they didn't leave you with the impression that their inclusion is just yet another way for "the great one" to show he is "somebody" and that he "knows people." I digress as I find myself getting back to the negative even in the paragraph I had reserved to show the few positives of the movie.

Bottom line, this is an ego-driven "I love myself" fest of Steve Harvey. I am wholly disappointed in the Rainforest crew who produced it, as I thought they would have grown more in their movie-making than they have apparently. They are still putting out low-budget, poorly-constructed films. It seems the only difference is that they are getting paid more now to do so. It's a shame. They had the opportunity to make this movie a quality movie. It could have been so much more than it was.

You will not regret skipping this movie.

Friend of mine referred me to this movie to go see with my girl. I saw the rating on IMDb and was hesitant. However, he insisted, so I went for it.

The movie is funny as hell. It may run for two hours but for me and my girl it passed by quickly; there's always something going on keeping you interested or making you laugh.

I don't need to write a detailed review. If you're hesitant, don't be...it's worth it!

PS I'd really give this movie an 8, but I feel like the current rating is way too low.

Another PS: I'm not black!

I watched this movie not expecting anything great, taking in consideration its very low IMDb rating. It completely proved me wrong, and it absolutely made my day. It was funny, charming, and full of really great moments. I loved the fact that the movie was following more than one relationship. It has a great storyline. The characters are great, and all the couples in the movie have great chemistry between them. Even though Cedric was the funniest character in the movie, all the others always had something pretty funny to say. I loved seeing Turtle in something else besides Entourage, he's a really great actor. The soundtrack is also amazing. I would definitely recommend this to all my friends.