Sprung - Loucas de Amor

I recently watched Sprung (1997) on Tubi. The storyline follows a pair of guy friends and a pair of girlfriends in search of their perfect match. They attend the same party but initially don't find what they're looking for until they're on their way out. One guy and one girl believe they're compatible, while the other two friends foresee a potential booty call. The booty call couple thinks their friends are getting too serious and attempt to sabotage their relationship.

Directed by and starring Rusty Cundieff (Fear of a Black Hat), the film also features Tisha Campbell (Martin), Paula Jai Parker (Hustle & Flow), John Witherspoon (Friday), Joe Torry (Tales from the Hood), and Clarence Williams III (Half Baked).

While the male main character can be annoying, overall, Sprung unfolds as a fun film to watch. The cast and soundtrack are impressive, with the acting fitting the characters perfectly. Joe Torry's performance is particularly hilarious and memorable. Several sequences feel like sketch comedy, especially the reenactment scenes, which brought a smile to my face. Though the comedic content is hit or miss, there are enough hits to keep you entertained. The storyline is a rollercoaster ride with a predictable but satisfying conclusion.

Overall, Sprung is a solid addition to the comedy genre, featuring a strong cast and enough enjoyable moments to keep you smiling. I would score this a 6/10 and recommend seeing it at least once.

I like the music that played in this film. My favourite song was "You Want This Party Started" by Somethin' For The People because it sounds really well. It played when Clyde & his friend Montel were getting ready to go to the party. I've been looking for the song's title but I wasn't successful finding out what & whom performed it until Saturday September 29, 2018. It is a really good song but UNFORTUNATELY, it is NOT included in the Original Soundtrack for this film.

Rusty C and Tisha Campbell were paired up 3 times that I personally know of. They first were in School Daze, you may not recognize them though, since he didn't have much hair then and was much younger. While Tisha 'of course' was wearing extensions/wig (to this day I'm not completely sure). Then he was a writer for the movie 'House Party 2' starring Kid n Play. While Tisha played Kids love interest (in all 3 versions that is). And now they starred in this movie together - this time playing opposite one another. The question I ponder is did they interact prior to this. In 'Daze' they didn't have much contact on the movie screen but could have spoken off camera. While with HP2 they most likely didn't speak unless she confronted him on her lines in the script. Who knows there maybe other movie/TV spots/etc that puts these two together.

Sprung was one of the funniest black romantic comdies releaded in 1997. While it's not good as the vastly superior Love Jones it does have a lot of charm. I remeber seeing this film after my first high school sweetheart broke up with me. The prison line up scene is very funny. Joe Torry and Paula Jai Parker steal almost every scene there in with their funny one-liners. Director Rusty Cundiff is very taltented and it's a shame he's hasn't made any films since this one.

Sprung can be summed up in one word, Average. There is nothing that makes this movie very bad but there is also nothing that makes it very good either. Tisha Campbell gives an above average performance as one of the few level headed character in the film but the other three leads didn't quite measure up to her. As for the plot, it's funny most of the time it tries to be. But the movie begins to drag considerably in the second half when the writers shift focus from all comedy to mostly the love story. While Sprung did have some nice innovations, they couldn't make up for the inconsistent plot and some sub-par acting.