I'm Through with White Girls

I had the privilege of catching one of the first screenings of this HI-larious film at this year's WorldFest Houston Film Festival. It is laugh-out-loud funny throughout, which is all the more remarkable because, though produced independently, the movie has all the comic appeal of a fresh studio film. The cast is fantastic, and one wonders why each actor (though they work often) is not more well-known already -- perhaps they will be after this takes off. I particularly liked the GARDEN STATE-esquire time lapse sequences (smartly & beautifully done), Mr. Lamman Rucker (mm-mm-goodlooking, ladies) and the Kellee Stewart scene right before the wedding. :) If you have the opportunity to see this movie, don't miss it.

This title is incredibly racist. I cannot believe that movies like this are allowed to be made. Imagine a movie all about the perils of dating black men.OH NO BUT THAT WOULD BE RACIST, WOULDN'T IT?It's incredibly sad that as a society we're unable to get over the whole race issue. We try and teach our children to look beyond a persons skin color, but movies like this continue to surface. How can a child ignore race when it is thrust in their faces everywhere, even at the movies. The title alone is unacceptable, and no amount of moral learned is an excuse to have that as a title. Might as well change the movie to "I'm a Huge Racist"

I saw this film at the 'Africa in the picture-festival' at the Filmhuis The Hague. I had not heard or read any review about this movie, but based on the plot synopsis I expected a politically correct flick. First of all, this is a very clever and funny movie, with likable characters. Actually it's one of the best comedies I've seen in years. Its fresh originality reminded me of earlier Spike Lee movies like 'She's Gotta Have It'. Unlike Spike Lee, Director Jennifer Sharp keeps the tone light all the time. This is no a criticism, she obviously intended the movie not to be too dogmatic. Probably the most rebellious thing about the movie is the excessive smoking of the main characters; I'm sure this is intended as a sneer to all that non-smoking Hollywood movies you see nowadays. The movie deals with stereotypes of all sorts, but in essence this movie is more about fear of commitment than about race. I've seen many new faces in this movie and all the actors perform very natural. Anthony Montgomery is brilliant, but Ryan Alosio steals the show as his best friend who is bluffing his way into rap in order to get a job at a record store to get close to a girl he fancies.

I really don't understand why so many people voted only one star for this movie, although I imagine that it has to do with preconceptions on their part.

Also, I have to say that when I saw the DVD cover at the video store, I thought that there was a decent chance that the movie would suck, but I gave it a chance anyway. Poor marketing there, as the movie might get more rentals in the video stores if the DVD cover were better at portraying the tone of the film.

And I guess that's my main issue, because this really is a quite good film, and deserves to be seen by far more people than will actually see it. I'll tell my friends, and word of mouth will get a few more views for the film, but it's not enough. This film deserves to be mainstream. The script is strong, and the characters are human and three dimensional, and the side plot with the two extended families from different classes was hilarious.

Please tell your friends about this movie.

I saw this last night, with a packed house at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, as part of the Roxbury film festival. I can't remember the last time I went to the movies and missed some of the dialogue because the audience was laughing so hard.

The lead actors are both terrific, with a strong chemistry between them. Lia Johnson, as the lead, was especially noteworthy. I hope we'll see her in a lot more films. (She was co-producer, too.) What a relief to see a romantic comedy that deals with race that doesn't have to drop down into base stupidity or stereotypes. (Not that the characters don't sometimes do stupid things.)

It's interesting to see conscious references to Spike Lee's, She's Gotta Have It. (I remember seeing that at a festival when it first came out.) First-time director Jennifer Sharp doesn't have Spike's sense of innovation or visual style, but she does provide the film strong visuals and a fast pace.

The story is somewhat reminiscent of High Fidelity (slacker guy has a phobia of commitment), but in a good way (lots of scenes in a record story helps, too). But here we have race as the excuse that he's been using for his lack of commitment. Jay dates a long string of white women, yet always breaks up with them (by note), when it gets too serious, writing that maybe the world isn't ready for a relationship like theirs. Interestingly, though, the movie isn't about Jay trying to get in touch with his "true blackness" or about how white women really are horrible and now that he's looking for a black woman, he'll truly find happiness. Instead, it's really about him having to learn to grow up and allow himself to commit to the right woman. The woman he finds, Katherine, is awfully amazing (bestselling novelist, very smart) but with enough quirks to make her seem fully human, as well.

It's awfully tough for black films to get theatrical distribution, but this is one that's smart, that lots of people can relate to. I hope it makes it.