Woo

Obviously a starring vehicle for Jada Pinkett Smith who had already co-starred quite effectively in Set It Off and The Nutty Professor.

But where I knew her first and most fondly from at that time, was Tales From The Crypt: Demon Knight.

She was sensational in that movie. And sexy as all get out too.

I just loved her there.

Now, we know more about her once seemingly perfect all star marriage than her actual work.

Which brings me to the set of this film.

Or off it.

We learned this year from Shannon Sharpe's podcast, that Will Smith tried to bully and intimidate her costar, the immensely talented and legendary Tommy Davidson, who himself, had already starred in the much funnier and superior, iconic In Living Color and Booty Call by the time this movie was released.

The cast here is incredible: Dave Chapelle, LL Cool J, and Paula Jai Parker among others.

The soundtrack is awesome too.

It's just that the movie is not.

It's not funny and not believable.

Jada Pickett Smith again looks completely amazing.

Wow.

But her character is just too obnoxious.

There's no way anybody puts up with that.

I don't care how fine she is.

And she is fine.

But this movie is not.

Watch any of those three previous films I mentioned if you're looking for your prime JPS fix, because this ain't it.

I had the displeasure of seeing this movie last night. It was on one of the HBOs and it was one of those movies that is so bad, you can't stop watching. Afterwards, you just think to yourself, "why the hell did I just sit and watch that awful, awful movie???" Please don't waste your time with this. There are only a few memorable, funny lines, but I don't even remember them. My mind is so clouded with how bad this was. You'd think Will Smith could get his wife a decent part with how powerful he's become in Hollywood.

I should have known that this film wasn't going to be any good; the director made another film by the name of 'The Guru' which has the 'honour' of being the only film that I've ever rated lower than 4/10(!) The thing is with this film is that most of the time, you're laughing at it, instead of with it. Some typical examples of this are occurrences when the main character's friends, or indeed, any characters for that matter, talk in the way that they do. You'll instantly recognise the style; the typical 'gangster' accent which is actually more amusing than a lot of the jokes. Given the fact this film is made up of an entirely black cast, this method of delivering the dialogue is constant throughout and is, in my opinion, very annoying after a while. It's not 'Chris Tucker' annoying but it grates in its own way.

This film's setting takes a bit of a 'road movie' approach as it never lingers for too long in a certain place or setting, or at least that's how these single route journey's in film SHOULD take place. In 'Woo', the place of no return they set off from (the guy's apartment) right the way through to the final scene is crammed with ridiculous scenes in pretty generic settings and the frustrating thing is, is that they last for far too long and are far too unfunny to be appearing in a film which is listed under the comedy genre.

Incidences here include the farce that happens in an Italian restaurant, a rather pointless and unfunny scene in the next setting: a secret underground club which has the ability to hide its loud music RIGHT until you get up close and open the final door and also in a police station during which I can't even remember one joke. Other frustrating things include the use of slapstick early on and a rather irrelevant scene involving LL Cool J, whom the protagonist goes to visit for advice on: wait for it…..music(!) I think LL Cool J appears rather early/high up in the pre film credits yet lasts for about four minutes. Yes, it's ridiculous.

Romance? Yes. Drama? Probably. Comedy? Erm: No Chance. One moment in this film made me laugh and that was when a character went to switch off his car alarm, only to find the car gone and the alarm lying there, still in perfect working order. That's not enough, I'm afraid.

Well. Whoever the *beep* you are, you don't know what you're talking about. "Woo" may not be the best movie in the world, but it was not "awful" as you so rudely stated it to be. It has comedy, it's fun, it's feel good. Let me ask you a question...are you African American? If you are not that would explain why you didn't enjoy the movie. I'm not being racist hopefully, I'm just saying that black people are not huge critics on films. They just lay back, and enjoy. Tommy Lee Davidson's role was kind of boring...but Jada was funny, and sexy, and very entertaining, including the random people (lady ordering the drinks, and Pookee!) Point....Be quiet if you don't know what you're talking about.

NOW WHAT!?!?!?

The premise of WOO centers around a mismatched couple who meet via a blind date . The eponymous Woo turns up at the flat of Tim who is a bit of nerd and a complete contrast to Woo . Right away you realise that this isn't a groundbreaking sex comedy and perhaps needed something to set it apart from other movies in the sub genre and there's nothing here that does

But what really ruins the film is the ethnic stereotypes and I don't think I've seen so many unlikely characters since watching black exploitation movies like SHAFT and Hit-man . The audience are really smacked over the head as to just how funky these black people are which will probably cause offence to black people and white liberals and will certainly irritate everyone else , so from having a movie that from the outset would merely have been very run of the mill we have a movie that is embarrassing . If you're going to populate a film with black people at least give them non stereotypical quirks