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Indigo Moods

~ You ain't been blue, 'til you've had that mood indigo.

Indigo Moods

Tag Archives: romantic comedy

What the Think Like A Man Pre-Screening Taught Me About Relationships

19 Thursday Apr 2012

Posted by Erica Welch in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Film, love, movie, relationships, romantic comedy, Steve Harvey, Think Like a Man

Steve Harvey would that all women be like me, at least that’s what I took from the movie Think Like a Man. Aside from the whole “90 Day rule” I didn’t see or hear a whole lot different from what I do anyway. But let me back up a bit.

When my co-worker gave me tickets to the screening that she wasn’t able to use, at first I was about as interested as I was in the book (which isn’t at all). I’m not one of those women who is tired of men writing books to tell women what we need to do to get a man, I’m one of those women who could care less what any man has to say about relationships who has had a shady relationship history himself. I could care less what most men and women say about them, really. I’m an old-fashioned girl, raised by an old-fashioned mom, who believes that I should behave like God expects me to and be treated like a lady, and I usually don’t have a problem being treated otherwise. Seeing no reason to change my M.O., the book held no appeal for me.

Luckily, the movie is…well, a movie. There’s a plot that makes as much sense as any romantic comedy, with characters that we can care about. The movie presents the battle of the sexes in light of a new weapon that has come into play, and does so in a way that’s funny and insightful.

But the main takeaway is that all women should be like me :D. Women should be curious about a man’s longtime goals and short term goals, how they feel about relationships, etc. They should not shack (boys shack; men build homes), they should not get sexually involved until a man proves his commitment to the relationship (which I view as a marriage and Steve Harvey equates to being eligible for benefits on a job after 90 days). Women should dress for success–dress like a keeper and not a sports fish, behave like a lady, etc.

The only issue I have with this philosophy is the title of the movie: Think Like a Man. I didn’t have to think like a man to come to the same conclusions. I just realized that people treat you how you allow them to and how you portray yourself. I do believe that since the advent of the “sexual revolution” and men no longer having to marry a woman to have easy access to sex, the balance of power pre-marriage has shifted to men (and women who don’t care about love & marriage, if such a woman exists) somewhat, but that doesn’t change the fact that most men appreciate having to work for a good woman and more often than not, will always marry her over the easy woman. Men still like a challenge, they still have respect for women who have respect for themselves, they still realize the positive effects of a good woman’s love and care in their lives–when they aren’t blinded by free booty and the bounty of women willing to commit themselves without the same requirement on his part.

So maybe I misjudged Steve Harvey, or the writers did a fabulous job with turning his book into an entertaining movie. I think women do need to think about the points made in the movie while they’re laughing along. After all, if what you are currently doing isn’t working, it wouldn’t hurt to evaluate a different perspective.

I was so happy to see a quality movie being made with a mostly Black cast. That hasn’t happened since the 90s, has it? I really hope people support it and show the movie industry that Tyler Perry hilarity is cool, but we can handle a more sophisticated, grown up comedy, and we want more diversity in films marketed to us. I’m so appreciative to the studio for not making another Tyler Perry film, but going in a different direction.

That’s my two cents, anyway. Leave yours in the comments section, or email me at 2blu2btru4u@gmail.com.

XOXO

2blu2btru

Related articles
  • Steve Harvey Directs Star-Studded New Movie (theroot.com)
  • Steve Harvey: Failure is a great teacher (cbsnews.com)
  • Top 5 Reasons To Pay To See Think Like A Man (No Spoiler) (theindustrycosign.wordpress.com)
  • Shacking Up Vs Tying The Knot (heartiste.wordpress.com)

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Roxanne, Roxanne!

19 Monday Oct 2009

Posted by Erica Welch in Movie Reviews

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Cyrano de Bergerac, movie review, romantic comedy, Roxanne, Steve Martin

SteveMartin460newWhen I took French in high school, I saw many French films in class-La Gloire de Mon Pere, the Lion King en francais, etc., but my favorite one of all was Gerard Depardieu in Cyrano de Bergerac. Cyrano was everything a girl could want..brave, intelligent, funny, romantic…but he had the biggest nose, and nose complex, that anyone in the civilized world had ever come across. Depardieu, in my opinion, played him perfectly. He had all of the passion and wit, all the raw masculinity and contradictory sensitivity (both about his nose and his romantic inclinations) that anyone could bring to the role. And he was French.

So why in the world would anyone want to see Steve Martin play C.D. Bales, the fire chief of a small town, making a delightful comedy of all the drama and passion of this French masterpiece? Because it’s funny, and well done.
Steve Martin’s C.D. Bales is hilarious, but that’s usually the case with Steve Martin. What surprised me was how his manic comedy worked to create this almost desperate mask for the despair he felt that the one woman he truly connects with adores him, so much so she wants him to set her up with Chris, the aesthetically pleasing but dimwitted new fireman. He plays the funny parts with such an undercurrent of anger and sadness, you begin to realize that the humorous C.D. is just a cover for how lonely he really is.

Daryl Hannah as Roxanne is a surprise. I haven’t seen much of Daryl Hannah’s work, but  I had the impression that she would be a clueless blonde who they paid to look pretty. I thought that the intelligent, whimsical Roxanne that Anne Brochet had brought to life was about to be defiled by the American film industry. But Hannah is pretty believable as a slightly geeky scientist with a romantic heart.

The plot sticks as close to the plot of the Depardieu version of Cyrano as it is possible for a comedy to stick to a drama. The ending is different. One is romantic, dramatic, and filled to bursting with eloquent prose; one is filled with screaming, accusations, slamming doors, and other comedic rigamarole. Also different, conveniently so, is the tension between C.D and Chris versus between Cyrano and Christian. Christian, we sense, really loves Roxanne, he just doesn’t know how to say it. Cyrano knows this; this is where most of the dramatic pull of Cyrano comes from. C.D. and Chris don’t share the same feelings for Roxanne; they both are attracted to her, but how and why have such different dynamics.

Overall, Roxanne  is Steve Martin at his funniest and most endearing (I especially got a kick out of the 2o something betters). This version of the Cyrano de Bergerac story is fun, light and funny. I find that my romantic snesibilities have enough diversity to love Cyrano and Roxanne equal for different yet equally sentimental reasons. 

Roxanne: *** 1/2 Stars/ A-

P.S. I got the still from Roxanne from here. This article about Steve Martin is pretty good too! There’s also a link to a youtube video of “20 Something Betters.”

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