Who's the Man?

What a fantastic movie! Wow! I loved, loved, loved this movie!

If there was ever a movie that was built for the dollar theater back in the day, this was it!

What an incredible concept and amazing, pretty much flawless execution on film.

The late director Ted Demme. His touch on this is masterful.

It's dang near an action film. Very similar, a close relative to New Jack City, which is from this same glorious era in movies and I also adore much the same.

I remember seeing the videocassette box of this in the video store and just thinking it was some silly urban comedy, because that is how they literally packaged it, but it is so much more than that.

Yes, it is funny, but make no mistake, this sucker is gritty too.

I love it.

Funny and gritty.

Old school New York.

Rappers playing normal roles of normal people. Unannounced cameos.

It's so great.

Most of today's youth wouldn't even realize these dudes are rappers.

And Denis Leary and Colin Quinn.

Bernie Mac too?

This movie rules!

And all from the director of Beautiful Girls?

Who knew?

Not me!

But I definitely know now.

Who the Man is!

Nobody makes me laugh like Denis Leary so when I first heard about this movie, I was dying to see it. I kept trying to rent it at the video store, but every time I went, it was checked out so I gave up trying to get it for a while. A few months later, I caught it on TV and I laughed my butt off. Although Denis Leary wasn't in it as much as I would have liked, I loved it. It instantly became one of my favorites despite all of its flaws. The cast is great, especially Doctor Dre and Ed Lover in what are sadly their only starring roles to date. The supporting cast, which consists of some of the coolest people ever, is great as well. I thought there was a good chance that this movie would really suck, but I was wrong. This is a classic 90s film. Movies like this just aren't made anymore. ***

Cards on the table: I'm an old white guy. I don't know Dre or Lover.

I like some slapstick, and some I don't. For your reference, I never much cared for Abbott & Costello or the 3 Stooges, but I love Laurel & Hardy and the Marx Brothers. Dre & Lover got lots of personality and good humor. Love watching their comedy routine -- the best part of the movie.

Ice-T has a small part, must be one of his first on the screen. Would like to see him in bigger parts; he's on TV a lot lately and he's an interesting actor.

The closing credits are playing to some hip-hop. The lyrics use the "N" word, but it occurs to me that I don't remember hearing it in the movie's dialog. It's the end of 2006 and it's finally going out of style, but avoiding it 13 years ago was a touch of class.

I've got Cinemax playing on the TV. The next movie is coming on, which they rate "MV" for Mild Violence. If I were to rate "Who's the Man," I wouldn't give it any violence rating. A gun was waived around menacingly, once. Otherwise, they're too busy having fun. Bring the kids. (Apparently, the professional movie-raters disagree. Maybe society has changed a lot in 13 years. Either that, or professional movie-raters are fuddy duddies.)

Anyone who is a fan of Dr.Dre and Ed Lover would have certain expectations for any film from the duo. "Who's the Man?" far exceeds those expectations.

And if you are a fan of music or rap in general it is still brilliant. If you are not a fan of any of these things then its brilliance is lost on you so go and watch Gone in 60 Seconds you ignorant fool.

"Who's the Man?" funny, silly, creative, relevant, full of cameos, and includes an impeccable soundtrack (including a complete performance of Naughty By Nature's "Hip-Hop Hooray"). I give credit to Ted Demme, it takes balls to direct a spoof with a straight face, but that's just what he did; and, for the most part, he succeeded (although some jokes do fall flat). An no film has ever gotten so much out of cameos. Everyone who was on MTV in the early 90's was included in this film (except for the disappointing exclusion of Jon Stewart). Over 50 hip-hop stars, and Colin Quinn, Dennis Leary, Kurt Loder, Bill Bellamy... This is movie belongs in the same company of A Hard Day's Night, Purple Rain, Gimme Shelter, High Fidelity, and The Commitments as a movie that perfectly blends film and music. A true cinematic achievement.

This movie was basically a poor excuse to put a lot of rap stars on screen. It was the biggest compilation of hip hop artists in a movie since Krush Groove or House Party. I guess they figured if they had enough big, well known names they wouldn't need to have a good story nor would they have to worry about anyone's acting ability.

There were legitimate actors thrown in there as well: Dennis Leary was one but he was horrible as the exaggerated police sergeant. Bernie Mac and Bill Belamy were also in it but they were there strictly for one-liners and coordinated zingers that I'm sure they hoped would catch on to become pop buzz-phrases like, "You got knocked out!" and other such phrases.

It was cool to see all of the various artists I know and loved when I was a teenager. A few of the iconic artists are now dead (Heavy D, Guru, Jam Master Jay, one of the Chrises from Kriss Kross, Bernie Mac, and maybe others). But gone are the days when I could be simply awed by my favorite artists and consider their movie good. I need substance, content, or at least quality laughs. This had none of that.