The ladies man - Un homme à femmes

Another Saturday Night Live project. If you get 4 minutes into the film and decide you don't think that you like Leon Phelps you might as well stop. If you get that far and don't smirk once DEFINITELY stop, it ain't gonna change from here.

Leon Phelps is a radio talkback guy that can only exist in movies as he would never really get a job in the real world. He is a 70s throwback complete with a 1:2 scale Dr J afro and speaks with a heavy distinct lisp and a slow drawl in a wannabe erudite manner.

Leon gives ridiculously homophobic, sexist and outdated answers to the most straightforward of relationship based questions, and for some reason the callers are offended despite the fact that Leon ALWAYS gives similar, generally butt-related responses.

Leon's producer is Julie Simmons who is likable but will always be the uppity daughter from Fresh Prince to me, she must field all the complaints and queries, and simultaneously ward off the angry station managers who constantly want to fire Leon.

When one manages to do so and Leon is turfed, we get a brief explanation of how he came to be (long story short he grew up in the Playboy mansion) and then move to his dingy local bar where we get to meet the regular clientele that Leon calls friends.

As Leon and Julie plot the next stage of their career we are informed that Leon not only talks the talk but humps the walk, he apparently has a string of "special ladies" all over the city, many of whom hate his guts. This has lead to a similar number of disgruntled husbands and partners who know Leon only from the smiley face tattoo on his derriere. I will not refer to this group again in favourable terms, suffice to say they include Will Ferrell and Lee Evans, two of the worst and over-hyped comedic actors in recent history.

They wish Leon harm.

Leon has no job, no prospects and no regular missus. On top of this Julie has had enough of his lack of common sense and has temporarily scarpered. After delivering one of the better lines in any comedy film for two decades; "There is nothing left to do. I'm going to have sex and wait for something to randomly happen." … something happens. Leon gets an unsigned letter where the female writer offers to share her life – and millions with Leon. He sets about finding his soul mate, leading to one of those montages Schneider specialises in where every meeting is apparently hilarious even though most of them aren't.

Another case of the wrong guy chasing after the wrong lady even when everyone knows that the chick he is ignoring is Miss Right, don't they do this in rom-coms about 75 times a year? That thought is also put on its head when he finally finds the chick and it is Tiffany-Amber Thiessen in her prime. In lingerie. Damnnnn, HELLO MISS WRONG!!! The finale is cheesy and a little disappointing… (Ferrell & Evens feature), but mostly The Ladies Man is the story of a man out of touch with the real world, a man who lives in his own bubble of ignorance but is always totally honest and true to himself and what he believes in. Even if that is stupid.

Take out the wronged guys subplot and this movie is even better, but also about 40 minutes long, maybe this is a case of better left as a skit? Final Rating – 7.5 / 10. Annoying sub-plots and cheesy finales aside, this is funny stuff in the main. I do like Leon Phelps.

I honestly don't understand how tripe like this gets made. The worst junior-high talent show skit you've ever seen is more entertaining than this film. Will Ferrell's wrestling fetish provides the only (briefly) humorous moments. Utterly horrible.

The fact that The Ladies Man originated from a skit on Saturday Night Live should surprise no one who has seen and disliked the film. The film feels exactly like a character who belongs in skits roughly five to eight minutes long, who will occasionally say something funny in those five to eight minutes, and then end on a comic-bang before the screenwriter decides to cut over to another sketch. The sad thing about The Ladies Man is it focuses on its title character (played by a clearly inspired Tim Meadows) for eighty long, often tedious minutes, completely deluding the character's comic effect because it must be referenced with almost every line he says.

I've discussed how tedious and often frustratingly unfunny Saturday Night Live films can often be (I wrote a whole blog on it three years back, so that should give an idea of how opinionated I was). Their main complaint links most of their films (with notable exceptions of the Wayne's World titles) in that they have difficultly giving their character's antics enough to do for a film's runtime. "The Ladies Man" character already has enough energy to be in a eighty minute film, but does he have the humor, plot, and charisma capabilities of carrying such precious minutes? How far does a sexist, afro-rockin' radio host go? The answer is not very far, but the film is at least buoyed by the competence and appeal of Tim Meadows, who can do no wrong in films as far as I'm concerned. His presence is casual and his attitude often laidback, even when he's playing a character as tiresome as this one. He plays Leon "The Ladies Man" Phelps, a studly black radio host who is known for his outspoken sexism on air during his nighttime show where he gives female callers shallow advice about relationships. The first thirty minutes of the film show his attitude and serve as nothing but a showcase for redundant jokes akin to that of modern Saturday Night Life sketches.

When the story finally does get going, it's lame and serves more as filler than as a significant plot. It follows a man who finds his wife cheating on him, only to spot a naked black man running outside his home with a smiley face tattooed on his rear. Turns out, there is a website dedicated to finding this man and a group of angry husbands meet up to try and track down the man who pleasures their wives. The result is a tiresome array of unfunny marital jokes and a predictable but slightly catchy song and dance number.

Tim Meadows (who serves as co-write on this film) is clearly inspired when playing "The Ladies Man." His personality is always energetic and here he plays a character he completely created and "perfected" himself. There is a genuine sense of fun and comfortableness when playing this role. The issue is that "The Ladies Man" is so thin and uninteresting as a character that he's more of an idea. In that regard, Meadows does a great job at playing an idea.

I return full circle to my point that I made in the beginning that stated that the films focuses on a character that feels exactly like he belongs in concise skits on Television. It's no surprise that after about fifteen minutes of laughing with and at the character, I began to be burdened with feelings of tedium. This only influences my point that a character with this personality belongs in shorts seventy-five minutes shorter than the film The Ladies Man.

Starring: Tim Meadows, Karyn Parsons, Billy Dee Williams, John Witherspoon, Will Ferrell, and Eugene Levy. Directed by: Reginald Hudlin.

The Ladies Man is a funny movie. There's not much thought behind it, but what do you expect from an SNL movie? It's actually better than most SNL movies (i.e. Superstar or A Night At The Roxbury) Tim Meadows and Will Ferrell were both very funny. Chris Parnell was also funny in his short scene (one of the funnier ones in the movie). Other than that, the rest of the cast is average and is just there to support Meadows. I've definitely seen funnier movies, but I've seen dumber ones too. Again, it's not exactly a deep movie, but it's good for a few laughs. It was funnier as a skit though. But still, if you're looking for a pretty funny movie, I'd recommend this one. Just don't think about it too much, or you'll hate it.

Rating: 6/10

I'm probably one of the few who thought this movie was hilarious. I mean, how can you NOT laugh at Will Ferrell and Lee Evans breaking into a song about how they're going to beat up the title character ("the bastard's going to pay!") The movie gets funnier and stranger in the second hour, when anything resembling a plot was apparently tossed out the window. Leon Phelps is a unique Saturday Night Live creation. If you don't expect much (as I did going in), you may just find yourself in stitches. Granted, this is not the stuff of classic comedy, but it's not the "one star" comedy that most critics called it.