Kwyn Bader's "Loving Jezebel" is a slight, unpleasant romantic comedy about a man who always pursues -- or is pursued by -- other men's women. The film's leading man, Hill Harper, goes into overdrive to make this hormonal clown sympathetic, but all he manages is to make him tiresome. The theatrical outlook is as dim as the level of wit in this hapless comedy.
Theodorus Melville (Harper) is first glimpsed jumping from a brownstone window in Manhattan as an angry husband (David Moscow) shoots the locks off his door. We flash back to kindergarten, where Theo gains his initial broken heart by a young "Jezebel".
This episode repeats itself through high school and Columbia University, where a succession of women who go with other men unaccountably want to flirt with Theo. He eventually finds his true love in Samantha (Laurel Holloman) -- but, alas, she too is trapped with a meathead husband.
Nearly all of these women are ripe candidates to be supermodels. But most of their brain cells appear unused, and all lack moral sense. Thus, we have a movie about the glories of women, told by a man who loves well but not wisely, in which every woman is a bimbo.
"Jezebel"'s only curiosity is that while the male lead and writer-director are black, it makes a studious effort to deny even the existence of ethnicity. While this rainbow love-in is a wonderful dream on the sociopolitical front, the film misses the humor and richness that ethnicity can bring to comedy.
The acting and direction never rise above the level of a slapped-together TV skit. And other than a soundtrack jumping with jazz and other hot music -- supervised by Billy Hopkins, Suzanne Smith, Kerry Barden and Mark Bennett -- technical contributions are minimal.
LOVING JEZEBEL
The Shooting Gallery
The Shooting Gallery and STARZ! Pictures
in association with BET Movies/STARZ! presents
a David Lancaster production
Producer: David Lancaster
Screenwriter-director: Kwyn Bader
Director of photography: Horacio Marquinez
Production designer: Franckie Diago
Music: Tony Prendatt
Costume designer: Arjun Bhasin
Editor: Tom McArdle
Color/stereo
Cast:
Theodorus Melville: Hill Harper
Samantha Parks: Laurel Holloman
Frances: Nicole Ari Parker
Mona: Sandrine Holt
Walter: Larry Gillard
Gabe Parks: David Moscow
Salli: Elisa Donovan
Alice Melville: Phylicia Rashad
Running time - 87 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Theodorus Melville (Harper) is first glimpsed jumping from a brownstone window in Manhattan as an angry husband (David Moscow) shoots the locks off his door. We flash back to kindergarten, where Theo gains his initial broken heart by a young "Jezebel".
This episode repeats itself through high school and Columbia University, where a succession of women who go with other men unaccountably want to flirt with Theo. He eventually finds his true love in Samantha (Laurel Holloman) -- but, alas, she too is trapped with a meathead husband.
Nearly all of these women are ripe candidates to be supermodels. But most of their brain cells appear unused, and all lack moral sense. Thus, we have a movie about the glories of women, told by a man who loves well but not wisely, in which every woman is a bimbo.
"Jezebel"'s only curiosity is that while the male lead and writer-director are black, it makes a studious effort to deny even the existence of ethnicity. While this rainbow love-in is a wonderful dream on the sociopolitical front, the film misses the humor and richness that ethnicity can bring to comedy.
The acting and direction never rise above the level of a slapped-together TV skit. And other than a soundtrack jumping with jazz and other hot music -- supervised by Billy Hopkins, Suzanne Smith, Kerry Barden and Mark Bennett -- technical contributions are minimal.
LOVING JEZEBEL
The Shooting Gallery
The Shooting Gallery and STARZ! Pictures
in association with BET Movies/STARZ! presents
a David Lancaster production
Producer: David Lancaster
Screenwriter-director: Kwyn Bader
Director of photography: Horacio Marquinez
Production designer: Franckie Diago
Music: Tony Prendatt
Costume designer: Arjun Bhasin
Editor: Tom McArdle
Color/stereo
Cast:
Theodorus Melville: Hill Harper
Samantha Parks: Laurel Holloman
Frances: Nicole Ari Parker
Mona: Sandrine Holt
Walter: Larry Gillard
Gabe Parks: David Moscow
Salli: Elisa Donovan
Alice Melville: Phylicia Rashad
Running time - 87 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 10/27/2000
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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