Ahh...remember movies like "Love Jones" or "Brown Sugar" (whose director, Rick Famuyiwa, is serving up some real bullshit with this weeks "Our Family Wedding") and Eddie Murphy classics such as "Boomerang," "Coming to America," and "The Distinguished Gentleman." Yeah, seems like forever ago, especially in light of Tyler Perry monopolizing the urban cinema market. However, what these films all have in common is that they all exhibit some level of class and intelligence in a vehicle targeted directly to the African American market. Sadly, this doesn't exist anymore as Tyler Perry, whose only film that displays such qualities is "Why Did I Get Married", goes about the route of buffoonery for profit as each offering seems to creep closer and closer to the very stereotypes he is so desperately trying to avoid.
The urban romantic comedy format appeared to be a fossil until I caught wind of "Just Wright" a film directed by "Something New" scribe Sanaa Hamri (I'm just glad Perry's name doesn't appear anywhere)and my faith was restored in telling tales of African Americans that didn't extend wildly from a Perry offering to something like Lee Daniel's "Precious". In layman's terms, its just nice to see a movie that happens to star two attractive African American leads who do not live in the projects, ghetto, have careers and jobs, and whose overall cinematic goal is not to sermonize but entertain.
Aside from looking like another winner from Hamri (whose "New" i immensely enjoyed)this would be the first time that Queen Latifah doesn't looked awkwardly shoehorned with a male costar in a romantic lead (the only other time Latifah has looked at ease was in "Bringing Down the House" where she was paired with Steve Martin and obnoxiously, the movie never explored the romantic part between those too for the sake of the audience I would imagine). Common doesn't really register on my radar for acting, but its good to see that he gets to exercise his chops with a much meatier role in "Wright". The fact that they casted him in the lead instead of an actual NBA star or any other "actor" is a bit of genius casting in my opinion. And who would have known that him and Queen Latifah would have such natural chemistry together. I certainly would have not thought to make them the leads in a vehicle such as this.
Which brings up that other offering this week "Our Family Wedding" which is Fox's latest exercise in stunt marketing (and way late at that I might add as a cross cultural movie involving African Americans and Hispanics would seem like something thought of eons ago). But then again, maybe "Precious" making a million dollars in 11 theaters opened up the studio systems eyes to how profitable this market could be and how gravely overlooked it is. Where "Wedding" falters is that its leads look like they have zero chemistry, are primarily TV actors, and whose union looks like an egregious attempt at cashing in on the liquidity of this overlooked market. Instead of finally being a much needed bridge between the audiences, "Wedding" just seems like a fiscally logical excuse to get a lot of black folks and Hispanics in the same theater - thus increasing receipts. The names boasted on the Marquee pretty much ensure this (namely Forest Whitaker and Carlos Mencia)
Sadly, its been 13 years since "love Jones" was released and i pinpoint that movie because it is perhaps the only film that i can remember that had a great respect for its subject matter, its actors, and its audience and their intelligence. Not saying that "Just Wright" is a reprise of this kind of cinematic thought, but maybe, just maybe the new black cinema (as I am dubbing it since we get two non Tyler Perry movies this year - woot woot)can lead us away from caricature to just plain and simple storytelling about people living their lives. Because at the end of the day, we are all no different. Movies like "Precious" and "The Blindside" are variations on the black experience, but they don't define it. Maybe one day, just maybe, Hollywood will understand that and get it...just right.
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